He's every nurse's dream patient. He doesn't complain or object to being poked and prodded. Best of all, if he dies, he won't stay dead for long. Known simply as SimMan^TM, this perfect patient is actually a human simulator designed to help students identify medical conditions prior to experiencing them with real patients.

Available to College of Nursing students at all three Arizona State University campuses, SimMan represents a break-through in medical-simulation designed to give students the opportunity to rehearse both simple and complex emergency procedures.

"SimMan allows faculty to create medical scenarios that require students to perform clinical decision-making at the bedside," said Evelyn Cessarotti, associate professor in the College of Nursing  and Site Coordinator at ASU's West campus. "If they complete the scenario correctly SimMan will respond by getting better. If not, complications may occur."

Human simulators are relatively new additions to medical education, and are being used in direct response to a national imperative for better medical training. During classroom scenarios, students learn how to monitor SimMan, who may continually get worse and possibly die if he does not receive adequate treatment. Students see firsthand the satisfaction of making right decisions and the consequences of making wrong ones.

Under SimMan's urethane-silicon skin are a handful of electrical, mechanical, hydraulic and pneumatic devices that control some eerily accurate bodily functions. SimMan can suffer an allergic reaction, receive CPR, change from a man to a woman, and even voice his symptoms.

Controlled by a computer, SimMan can be programmed to present a wide range of routine and difficult conditions such as tongue swelling, airway obstructions and cardiac arrhythmias. He is a high-fidelity simulator with pulse points, a chest that swells with each breath, and replaceable skin and veins.

"At every level of patient care, hands-on experience is the best teacher," said Cessarotti. "SimMan provides students with the time to use their critical thinking skills and react to situations that may not happen frequently, but are necessary to save a patient's life.