Meet Jim, the life-like manikin helping nursing students at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay

There's a new patient in Lakehead University's nursing simulation lab in Thunder Bay, Ont., and he's teaching students how to handle code blue emergencies as realistically as possible.

His name is Jim, and he's a simulation manikin from CAE Healthcare. He can move, blink, breathe and even speak, and is the only manikin of his kind at the school.

With LED screens for eyes, which can be altered in shape and colour to mimic different medical conditions, movable joints, a pulse and a fluctuating heartbeat, Jim offers real-time feedback as students treat his varying ailments.

The nursing department invited CBC News to witness a code blue simulation Thursday, which is when a person stops breathing or their heart stops beating.

"Students really have the opportunity to practice highly potentially-stressful events that they might not see as often in clinical in this safe and supported lab environment, to ensure that they are confident and competent when they transition into practice and work with patients in the community here," said nursing simulation lab co-ordinator, Caroline Sabotig.

While Lakehead's school of nursing has run simulated code blue labs since 2009, Jim is taking students' hands-on education up a notch with software that shows them the quality and consistency of their resuscitation efforts.

"We can simulate just about anything that you would see on an adult patient in the clinical setting – so heart sounds, bowel sounds, lung sounds – and those can be changed, too, with the patient's condition," Sabotig said.

"We can populate the different pulses and we can do any sorts of assessments, injections, and all the skills that students would be expected to perform in the clinical setting."

Building students' confidence

As fourth-year nursing student Marian Aigbogun entered the lab, she asked her patient, Jim, how he was doing.

"My chest's tight," Jim answered.

Then, he became unresponsive. Aigbogun jumped into action, declaring a code blue, and received support from her professors to insert an oral airway and start CPR.

As she gave Jim chest compressions, she checked a tablet screen to watch her progress and see if she was pumping deeply and consistently enough. Jim was successfully revived.

"I'm really excited to have this manikin to practice with because it gives me a safe, supportive environment and it also gives me an experience that is really, really close to real-life experience," Aigbogun said afterwards.

"It's built my confidence, it's built my expertise and helps me to be able to feel confident in attending to a real-life situation if I see someone going into cardiac arrest in a clinical setting."

Inspired by her mother, Aigbogun said she joined the nursing program to help give back and make a positive impact on people's lives.

"My mom is a nurse and I've experienced how she cares for people and how she impacts  [lives]," Aigbogun said. "Canada, too, needs a lot of nurses, and I like to impact life, take care of people, make changes in the lives of patients and their [families]."

Last fall, Lakehead raised $25,000 through a match funding campaign to help bring Jim to the nursing simulation lab. Sabotig said the school is grateful for the community's support and for its partnership with HCA Healthcare to help make the program possible.