I haven’t. That part comes in a few weeks.
I have, however, BEEN the robot in question, as today, I provided the voice and cardiac controls in my university’s simulation suite.
My peers performed ECGs on a rather frightening, dead-eyed humanoid that was, unbeknownst to them and in 
conjunction with my voice, being used as a conduit for a scenario pertinent to our learning. That’s me on the right, there, next to my control station (a closer view makes up the header for this post) which allowed me to alter heart rate, breathing rate, create a whole host of arrhythmias and not only see my colleagues, but speak to and hear them as well.
I was a patient named Christopher Smith who had been admitted to A&E. That was all the information that had been supplied, barring my NHS number and date of birth. It was the job of my fellow students to check three patient identifiers, get a brief idea of what was wrong with me and to perform an ECG accordingly, with a brief assessment of the adjustments needed and that of the trace itself.
It was made clear both before and after the session, that it was ok to make mistakes and that this was predominantly what the session was for. It’s extremely unnerving, having a conversation with an expressionless robot that can visibly and audibly breathe, so it was nice to be reassured that the pressure wasn’t as high as it could have been.
Everything going to plan, it would emerge that my chest pain was a result of atrial fibrillation and a heart rate of a mere 32-35bpm. It was also an assessment of how quickly we prioritised the test itself. Due to the presenting chest pains, attaching the limb leads first, so as to gain a visible rhythm strip before a full 12-lead was the correct response, then adjusting the paper speed on the trace itself so as to provide an useable ECG was the next desired step. All the while, I was talking to the student practitioner, asking questions about the test and about the situation in order to see how they reacted and whether they felt comfortable keeping me, as a patient, calm at the same time as carrying out the test with the required level of haste.
These sessions were filmed and then followed a group feedback discussion. The group seemed pleased with the outcome, overall. The comments made were mostly of a positive nature, and the few criticisms there were from myself, my peers and our lecturer, were minor and constructive. This has most certainly been my most enjoyable session to date, and one I did not mind getting up at 4:30am to help set up, so needless to say, I’m very much looking forward to the next one.
I will add that the first half of the session used me as a living mannequin. The reasons that I didn’t comment on this until now are twofold;
- It was effectively the same as what I have written about, only without the technology
- Seeing my naked torso on film reminded me that I’m still carrying holiday weight. This wouldn’t be a problem, were it not the weight from four holidays.
Thanks!
The Student Physiologist 