Statewide Iowa (RI) – A University of Iowa program called Simulation in Motion-Iowa reached a milestone this week in its effort to provide emergency health care providers statewide with continuing education. U of I Nursing Professor Jacinda Bunch, the program’s senior advisor, says with the latest stop in Chickasaw County, after three years, they’ve done training in all 99 Iowa counties, reaching more than ten-thousand individuals.
Using three large trucks, three teams of highly-trained staff have been taking their mobile simulators on the road since 2022, driving the equivalent of going around the world three times. Bunch says they’re offering a vital service.
The mobile simulators are packed with emergency gear and “human patient simulators” depicting an adult male, an adult woman, a child, a baby, and a premature infant. The trucks roll into town hauling everything that’s needed for a full training mock-up.
Now that the 99-county goal has been reached, Bunch says they’ll be setting the bar higher, as they continue to train dedicated teams and reach out to those they haven’t met yet.
The program was launched with just one mobile simulator truck, but now with three on the move, Bunch says the new goal is to visit all 99 of the state’s counties every year.
For more information, visit sim-ia.uiowa.edu/
