And now for something completely different -- and slightly unsettling. I stopped by Swedish Medical Center's new Gossman Center for Advanced Pediatric and Perinatal Simulation in Seattle this morning, having been intrigued by a description of the computer-controlled mannequins the facility will use to train doctors and other health-care personnel.

Here's a video of Tasha Burwinkle, the center's director, showing me one of the simulations and the underlying technology.


As you can tell from the video, the idea is to make the simulations as realistic as possible, including potential complications. Using these kinds of simulations for training is a common practice in the health-care profession, but the new Swedish Hospital center is relatively unusual for its focus on pediatric and perinatal scenarios.

The mannequins are controlled by Tablet PCs running specialized applications created Gaumard Scientific. The mannequins are pretty life-like, down to the simulated breathing and heart rates. The computers not only control the mannequins but monitor what's happening to them. For example, the program can determine whether a simulated resuscitation of one of the mannequins is successful.

Although the center is operated by Swedish, it will be available for training of doctors and other medical professionals throughout the region. Apart from providing training in medical procedures, the center helps doctors work on their communication skills, such as breaking bad news to a family.

"Our focus really is on those behavioral aspects," Burwinkle said.

The center uses high-tech wireless microphones and video cameras to keep a record of the training session for review by the participants. All the video and audio feeds can be monitored in a central command center, from which the mannequins can also be controlled. Here's David Webber, a Gossman Center simulation technician, working in the command center this morning.