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GRAND FORKS - North Dakota's only mobile medical simulation program, UND's Simulation In Motion-North Dakota (SIM-ND), is coming to western North Dakota.
In July, the UND School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) traveling program announced the arrival of two new “sprinter” style simulation vans -- modeled on the slightly smaller, more agile ambulances typically seen on the streets of larger cities. Funded in part through a grant from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, the two new simulation vans will be based in Minot and Grand Forks/Fargo, respectively.
"We heard the need from our communities that they needed more access to our education out west," said Operations Director Jessi Nicola with the SMHS Simulation Center in a news release. "Minot was just the right place to be."
SIM-ND also hired two new staff who will be based in Minot and serve the western half of North Dakota.
"The people reaching out to us are rural EMS people, plus the oil and gas EMS substations, critical access hospitals and rural fire departments," said Tawni Harvala, a registered nurse and SIM-ND Operations manager, in the release. "Those groups have been calling us, and we've been trying our hardest to get to them - since 2023. So we decided to make these Minot positions full-time."
The SIM-ND team was founded in 2011 when North Dakota's largest medical simulation center used a Helmsley Charitable Trust grant to purchase four massive semi-trucks that double as mobile hospital simulators. The trucks' purpose was to allow the UND-based medical simulation team to get off campus and into communities across North Dakota.
The challenge with that model, Harvala said, is that for as amazing as the trucks have been, they not only require a commercial driver's license (CDL) to operate but tend to go through a lot of fuel.
In other words, they can be too big at times.
"The trucks have a couple limitations that the vans can supplement," Harvala said. "Plus, there are a few different limitations with weather."
Harvala explained the sprinter vans are easier to keep both warm and cool in North Dakota's extreme temperatures than are the large semi-trucks. They also can go places the trucks cannot, making them more adaptable.
"We're still offering the same education opportunities as the trucks, but we tailor it to the learner, whether we're teaching in an oil field or going to an ER, or whether were training doctors and nurses in a large facility or going to a critical access hospital, where they might only have a nurse practitioner and a CNA on call," Harvala said. "Each facility has different needs and different models of care, so we have to adapt, which the vans help us do."
Harvala stressed the vans can't simply replace the trucks and the larger trucks aren't going away.
"If we have a big group, they fit better in the trucks," she said.
New vans notwithstanding, SIM-ND has faced a more complex financial road since 2020. Originally established with the aid of North Dakota Health and Human Services, UND and healthcare systems across the state, support from health providers and the state waned after the COVID-19 pandemic forced state officials and some healthcare administrators to direct their resources away from medical simulation.
This remains a challenge for the traveling simulation team insofar as each educational event SIM-ND puts on for rural EMS providers or critical access hospitals costs thousands of dollars.
"Depending on the location, equipment and staffing required, the average cost to deliver a simulation education event ranges from approximately $2,000-5,000," said Harvala, who hopes to keep SIM-ND services accessible and affordable for rural providers. "Our services have never been intended to generate profit, and we've always operated with a service mindset."
And with new equipment and new staff based in Minot, the team can reach a lot more rural agencies a lot faster, she added.