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 The students at the University of Lublin don special suits to
place strain on their limb and hand muscles and the bones of their
spine, restricting mobility, along with goggles which reduce vision
to 20 per cent. The equipment is imported from Japan, where the
technique is more commonly used to give students an insight into how
it might feel to be decades older, but in Europe it remains a
rarity.
"This type of situation will allow me to understand older people a
little bit in the future if they complain of problems with joints,
mobility, or the width of their field of vision," Wodyk, who is in
her fourth year of study, said after completing her laborious
journey down the stairs.
With Europe's ageing population, doctors are becoming more aware of
the special needs of elderly patients. By making it easier to
empathize, the simulation of old age helps doctors put patients'
needs first, sixth-year medical student Sylwia Korzeniowska said.
 "We must remember that the most important thing in the treatment of
the patient is contact with him and whether he will cooperate with
us and trust us. If we have some experience of how he feels, what's
wrong, what is his biggest obstacle, we can help him in the best way
and inspire confidence through communication, which is already an
amazing, easy way to make a diagnosis and treat the patient," she
said.
The students receive further training at the Medical Simulation
Center, where everything is organized like in a real hospital. The
beds are equipped with mannequins that the students can practice on
as if they were real patients, while the lecturers monitor.
Everything is recorded on video for later analysis.
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Professor Kamil Torres explained that the end goal was to provide
the best patient care, with the human relationship to the patient
just as important as medical technology.
"The patient is the most important person. All technological
advances, information technology, are only tools for supporting us
in doing this, in taking care of patients," he said.
By giving students the opportunity to practice, the idea is that
fewer mistakes should occur when they eventually come into contact
with real patients.
"The whole system should take into account patient safety. We should
not let people into the clinic before they are ready. [The
simulation center] is a preparation in terms of knowledge, in terms
of skills, but also I think in terms of mental preparation, in terms
of experiencing some emotion and communicating with the patient.
These are the two integral parts that need to interact with each
other," Doctor Lukasz Pietrzyk explained.
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