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Bionic Baby will be a real life-saver
It may just be the world’s creepiest – but most important – baby doll.
The National Patient Simulation Training Centre, based at Wellington Hospital, has just taken delivery of a bouncing baby girl manikin - and in terms of realism she puts the Barbies and the Bratz of this world to shame.
She breathes, she moves around, she cries - she even registers a pulse and her lips can change colour. 
But this life-size newborn baby girl is definitely not a toy for the kids – and not just because she costs about the same as a brand new Toyota Corolla - around $35,000.
She can also stop breathing. She can have fits. And her pulse can shoot through the roof – or crash through the floor.
“Obviously this is not a doll,” says Brian Robinson, director of the National Patient Simulation Training Centre. “It’s a very high-tech medical simulator which will give medical professionals – doctors, nurses, midwives and others – a chance to practice their skills for dealing with potentially life-threatening situations for real newborn babies.
“We’re still debating what to christen her, so for now she goes by her trade name – ‘SimNewB’.
“It’s not the catchiest name, and if the public have any suggestions we’d be happy to hear them."
If you have any suggestions, send an email with the subject line “name that baby” to – info@ccdhb.org.nz.
“She comes packed with the very latest computerised gadgetry and programs which enable her to mimic the patterns of any number of real life health crises – and to respond to treatment in the same way as a real baby would.
“We’ve had adult and child simulators before, but never a newborn. This is a brand new product on the market - so new she still has her umbilical cord attached!
“The technology is so sophisticated that she can present as everything from a limp, cyanotic newborn with no vital signs - through to a moving, crying, vigorous newborn.
“Because she can mimic so many syndromes, SimNewB is an invaluable tool for teaching and practising what interventions to do, and when.
“And it’s not just numbers on a screen. The chest rises and falls as the simulator breathes, you can monitor its pulse, and if it isn’t getting enough oxygen you’ll see real-time changes such as the colour of its lips darkening.
“Clinicians can do interventions directly on the simulator – she can be intubated, we can perform resuscitation, we can catheterise, or perform CPR, and much more.
“For example – if the symptoms point to a pneumothorax you can insert a needle into this simulator to decompress the thorax – which is what you might do in real life.
“I don’t think there’s any doubt that over time this simulator will help to save the lives of some newborn babies with significant health problems. It’s more than just a practise manikin; it’s a life-saver.
The National Patient Simulation Training Centre, which is part of Capital & Coast DHB, has numerous other simulators and devices for training hundreds of medical professionals each year. The centre is currently raising funds to shift to enlarged premises on the Wellington Hospital site.
“I’m hoping that public awareness of what we do will help us to find some additional supporters. We may not work hands-on with patients, but the work we do is vitally important in saving real lives when doctors, nurses, midwives and others encounter these situations – which they’ve practised here - in the real world,” Brian Robinson said.
And you’d have to be a dummy not to see the value in that.
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