University of Nebraska Medical Center leaders are seeking state support to continue a statewide program that has trained nearly 7,000 individuals, the majority of whom are volunteer emergency medical services (EMS) providers and rural firefighters.
LB 761, introduced by Sen. Myron Dorn of Adams, Neb., would support ongoing operational funding for the Simulation in Motion-Nebraska (SIM-NE) program, which was initially launched by the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
Since its launch in January 2017, the four SIM-NE trucks collectively have:
- Traveled over 62,000 miles across the state – that’s more than 2 1/2 times around the Earth;
- Provided more than 20,000 free continuing education training hours to volunteer EMS providers, firefighters and critical access hospital staff of Nebraska;
- Trained 6,953 individuals; and
- Trained at least one agency in 87 of Nebraska’s 93 counties.
The Transportation and Telecommunications Committee will hear testimony on the bill during the afternoon of Monday, Jan. 27 at the State Capitol. UNMC’s Doug Dekker, simulation program manager for iEXCEL, and Ben Stobbe, assistant vice chancellor of clinical simulation for iEXCEL, will testify in support of the bill.
LB 761 supports a 50-cent motor vehicle license fee increase to provide an appropriation from the Nebraska Emergency Medical Systems Operations Cash Fund to UNMC SIM-NE, allowing the program to continue offering high-fidelity simulation training to EMS and critical access hospitals at the current no cost fee structure. The response from these recurring trainings has been overwhelmingly positive, Dekker said.
Stationed in the Nebraska communities of Scottsbluff, Norfolk, Kearney and Lincoln, each mobile unit is equipped to recreate a realistic environment for learners including: medical supplies; pre-programmed computerized medical and trauma scenarios; monitors that display vital signs of patient simulators; heart monitors/defibrillators; audio and video recording/playback capabilities and mock drugs.
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