{"id":38571,"date":"2016-03-18T03:16:29","date_gmt":"2016-03-18T07:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/utnews.utoledo.edu\/?p=38571"},"modified":"2016-03-15T11:53:48","modified_gmt":"2016-03-15T15:53:48","slug":"ut-hosts-heroin-overdose-simulation-to-help-fight-drug-epidemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/03_18_2016\/ut-hosts-heroin-overdose-simulation-to-help-fight-drug-epidemic","title":{"rendered":"UT hosts heroin overdose simulation to help fight drug epidemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lying passed out on the floor with a needle stuck in his arm, \u201cJasper\u201d is no dummy. <\/p>\n

It is a human simulator posing as a man who overdosed on heroin to teach medical students at The University of Toledo how to save a drug addict\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\"Toledo<\/a>

Toledo Fire and Rescue Department paramedic students administered Narcan to the simulated heroin overdose patient inside the staged apartment.<\/p><\/div>In front of an audience, students training to be doctors, nurses and emergency responders were put to the test with a heroin overdose simulation in UT\u2019s Jacobs Interprofessional Immersive Simulation Center on Health Science Campus.<\/p>\n

The real-time emergency situation \u2014 from the staged apartment to the simulated hospital room \u2014 was broadcast to a crowd of recovering heroin addicts, Toledo police and fire chiefs, UT faculty and staff, and community partners to increase education about Ohio\u2019s heroin epidemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted everyone to experience the high-intensity process, emotions and medical treatment of heroin overdose starting inside a home,\u201d Tia Hornish, UT clinical simulation and education research associate, said. \u201cBy watching the situation unfold, we hope they feel a connection to what is happening to people of all ages and walks of life in our community. As health-care providers, we need to be able to understand that the heroin epidemic is not discriminating against anyone and provide resources to help addicts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Third-year<\/a>

Third-year medical student Nathan Marcinkowski led the team in a state-of-the-art medical simulation suite, which served as the ER for the heroin overdose exercise.<\/p><\/div>EMT students got experience administering the antidote drug Narcan, which is now available at pharmacies over the counter, and transporting the patient to the simulated emergency room.<\/p>\n

\u201cNarcan is only temporary,\u201d Dr. Paul Rega, assistant professor in the UT Department of Emergency Medicine, said. \u201cIt does not cure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since Narcan \u2014 also known as naloxone \u2014 wears off before the overdose, medical students then took over and ran through all of the life-threatening complications that come with a drug overdose. <\/p>\n

\"Students<\/a>

Students training to be doctors, nurses and physician’s assistants worked together to save the human simulator suffering from complications that resulted from a heroin overdose.<\/p><\/div>\u201cThis is an area where you have a controlled setting with a high-fidelity simulator that can mimic a lot of conditions,\u201d Rega said. \u201cThe students practice and when the real situation arises, they are not shocked by it. They can address it in a proper fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Third-year medical student Nathan Marcinkowski was the team leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally, students don\u2019t get to experience these types of situations until their residencies,\u201d Marcinkowski said. \u201cIt\u2019s great training for us and also a great experience for the community to be here. I know there is a lot of debate about Narcan, but I think it\u2019s really good that people are interested in learning about this.\u201d<\/p>\n

This time, Jasper survived.<\/p>\n

The simulation was a shock for Matt Bell, who sat watching in the audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cFive dollars\u2019 worth of heroin almost killed me,\u201d Bell, who overdosed in fall 2014, said. \u201cNarcan saved my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bell is co-founder of Team Recovery, a local organization of recovering heroin addicts who are working to help other addicts get sober. Team Recovery holds family support group meetings once a week. Representatives also share their stories in school classrooms from sixth grade through college to spread prevention awareness.<\/p>\n

\u201cI graduated from high school with a 4.0 GPA, but dropped out of UT after pain pills from a baseball injury led me ultimately to heroin addiction,\u201d Bell said. \u201cThere is a way out. This simulation may be scary to see, but people need to understand the severity and prevalence of what is happening inside so many homes in our area.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students training to be doctors, nurses, physician’s assistants and paramedics worked together to save the human simulator suffering from a heroin overdose.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":812,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,38,40,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38571"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38571"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38571\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38656,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38571\/revisions\/38656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}