OGDEN- He breathes, has a heartbeat, lung and bowel sounds, communicates and even gets sick with diabetes, pneumonia and heart disease, but he's not real.
   SimMan is a life-size manikin and the latest addition in medical training technology at Weber State University that will give students handson experience to help them deal with live patients. Two adult-size manikins and two baby manikins, known as SimBabies, are at the Dr. Ezekiel R. Dumke College of Health Professionals simulation laboratory and will be available to students in the classroom next fall.
   So far, only a handful of students and faculty in emergency care, rescue and nursing have tested out the lab.
   The manikins, also known as patient simulators, are in real hospital beds and are hooked to monitors that track their vital signs. Surrounding them is all of the equipment found in a typical intensive care unit, but hidden behind a one-way mirror is a separate control room with laptop computers, monitors and microphones that support the patient simulators.
   From the control room, instructors can select programmed scenarios or manually enter symptoms that replicate an array of ailments.
   "We can actually control the manikin's vital signs depending on how the student is treating them," said Allen Hanberg, assistant nursing professor. "The simulators provide a lifelike experience in the lab that allows the students to learn from mistakes, even the death of a patient, without the actual loss of life. This will really teach the students to think on their feet, especially in a time of crisis."
   Hanberg said the manikins will allow students to practice a wide range of medical procedures, from starting an intravenous drip to intubation to inserting chest tubes. Students can take the patient's vital signs and then determine a course of action.
   Lisa Trujillo, instructor and director of clinical education in respiratory therapy, said the simulators give students a setting to develop critical thinking skills. They also help students learn to distinguish unique breathing sounds associated with respiratory conditions such as asthma, emphysema, pneumonia and a collapsed lung.
   Trujillo added that if students struggle or make a mistake in the lab, they have time to think it through and learn from the process. In the clinical setting, a more experienced health care provider would step in immediately, reducing the opportunity for a student to learn first-hand.
   Students are videotaped in action so they can review their care. Recorded scenarios will also be made available on DVD, podcasts or Web streaming and can be broadcast to any multimedia classroom in the building, Hanberg said.
   "This is so exciting. It's cutting edge," said London Draper, assistant professor of nursing. "We are always looking at how we can improve the quality of care and safety in patients, and this will allow students to repeat different scenarios and learn and reflect. This is the closest to reality that you can get."
   Michelle Tanner is an outreach educator for Intermountain Health Care Northern Region as well as a newborn intensive care unit and LifeFlight nurse at McKay-Dee Hospital in Ogden. She said she is very impressed with the manikins.
   "This is really important because it will help these students learn some critical lessons," she said. The first five minutes of treatment usually determines the outcome, "and having this training will really help these students prepare for real-life situations."

    The laboratory setting also lets students practice diagnosing abnormal or less common conditions they may encounter during their career.