As the saying goes, “you never know until you ask,” but for me, it all happened by accident. While at a Boston Scientific inservice, I asked the local representative, Dave Aben, if he could come and speak to our invasive cardiovascular technology students at Carnegie Institute this summer. I always ask the representatives to visit during the summer months, because this is when we teach the interventional portion of Carnegie Institute’s Invasive Cardiovascular Technology (ICVT) program.

As I was talking to Dave, his regional manager, Mick Malone, walked over and listened to our conversation. Mick noted that the simulation bus would be in Michigan in July and asked if we would like the opportunity to use it. I, of course, said yes, and promptly called our invasive cardiovascular technology program director, Al Bennett, RCIS, who was ecstatic. Al immediately alerted the school administration and got the go-ahead. Mick emailed me the following week to say that the week of July 9 was open and asked what day and time would be good for our students. Boston Scientific’s corporate office in Minnesota then sent us the necessary contracts and the administration at Carnegie made the commitment to provide 220-volt power, if needed, to support the generator. At this point, even though I was getting slaps on the back and “Great job, Sue!”, I did not yet fully realize what had been accomplished by getting the bus to come to our students.

On the day in question, I came to work as usual. I work in a cath lab at a Michigan hospital. I was getting ready to leave for the Carnegie Institute when the phone rang. It was Al Bennett, saying that the bus was here early. I told one of our students, who was doing her clinical in our lab, to get dressed and come on down. The simulation team was there and ready for us. I made the hour drive in 40 minutes. The first thing I saw when I turned into the parking lot was a big blue bus. I jumped out of my car, excited at the chance to experience simulated cases.

The feeling in the building was electric. No one had ever thought (including myself) that we would get the chance to experience such a thing, since usually only medical residents and fellows get this opportunity. The students were so excited that we had to restrain them from stampeding out of the building and crossing the parking lot to get into the bus. They even bypassed the ice cream truck in the parking lot.

Program director Al Bennett took the first turn and Rotablated his way through a simulated right coronary case. To make matters interesting, the artery was an anterior take-off, shepherd’s crook right, with the primary lesion just distal to the bend in the artery. A standard JR4 did not have enough backup to allow interventional equipment through the calcified vessel. Al tried a standard balloon, went to a Cutting Balloon and finally settled for a Rotablator followed by a stent. The end result looked great.

Our invasive students followed and all had fun trying various methods of getting the artery open. Amy Trujillo, the Medical Simulation Corporation trainer for our experience, was fantastic. On one case, she allowed the artery to be perforated and the students then followed protocol to fix the perforation. The experience was almost as realistic as being in a real cath lab. There were hemodynamics, ECGs and simulated coronary shots. There was even a voice from the mannequin, who told us he was having chest pain. We had the option to ask for a temporary pacemaker and any drugs that we thought were necessary for the case. If the patient became bradycardic, we could give atropine; hypotension got dopamine, hypertension got lopressor and/or nitroglycerin.

I cannot thank the Boston Scientific Corporation enough for their generosity in allowing our students the opportunity for this experience. The Boston Scientific staff was awesome. Everyone, from the Boston Scientific administration in Minneapolis, to Mick Malone, Dave Aben, Craig Leonard, Amy Trujillo and the other staff on the bus was helpful, friendly and great to work with. Before the afternoon even got started, they were already making plans to come back next year for the whole day, so everyone will have maximum time to experience the bus. Amy noted that more cases are being developed so that in the future, a wider variety of procedures can be experienced.

If you are a facility that trains cardiovascular technologists, check with your local Boston Scientific representatives to see if the SimSuite bus can be made available for your students. The time spent is invaluable for an almost “real” cath lab patient experience.

The authors can be contacted at info@carnegie-institute.com