Charles Crane/MDN Trinity Health’s mobile simulation unit team pose next to the SIM-ND truck outside Trinity Hospital on Wednesday.

For rural ambulances and the volunteers who often staff them, it can be difficult to find opportunities to get education and training for certain unique emergency situations. To bridge that gap, for nearly 10 years Trinity Health has operated a mobile simulation unit, and on Sept. 14 the medical center gave a behind-the-scenes look of its SIM-ND truck.

The Simulation in Motion-North Dakota program began as a grant to fund six mobile education units to provide hands on experiences to rural first responders, emergency medical services personnel, and even nurses and physicians. The Trinity Health SIM truck is one of four of the original six still in operation. At 45 feet, the SIM truck has enough space for custom-made emergency room, ambulance simulator and a communications hub for staff to manage the simulation. Through this the staff can give learners real-time physiological feedback and make adjustments based on the requirements of the situation being simulated.

The simulated interventions and scenarios are realized through uncanny mannequins that do everything from talk, blink, bleed and even die if the actions taken by the learner could lead to that. SIM-ND coordinator Rob Klink said that such consequences are necessary for preparing medical personnel for the realities they might face on the job.

“We offer 70 different simulations, but mainly we focus on high acuity, low volume patients, super sick patients that we don’t want to see. We want to be sure that we’re ready. When they do come across our doors, we respond to the scene appropriately,” Klink said.

Trinity Health’s mobile simulation unit is the only SIM truck active in northwestern North Dakota, but it had to press pause during the heightened times of the coronavirus pandemic. Klink said he and his team are happy to be back on the road and have trained more than 500 rural medical personnel just since April. All training in the SIM-ND truck is free to the rural personnel utilizing it, and qualifies for continuing education credits.

“In this region, it’s not always feasible for us to able to send our staff to get training in cities. Our goal is to hit the critical access hospitals and the rural EMS throughout the year within the state,” Klink said. “The simulations reflect real world situations that allow for coordination and training in a safe environment where we can grow from our successes and learn from our mistakes.”