When Hurricane Katrina swept through the gulf coast region, Sidney Schmidt, a former tour guide in New Orleans, found shelter in San Antonio with family members. But in the midst of the disasters occurring in his hometown, his personal health took a plunge. Aggravating chest pains, shortness of breath and extreme fatigue eventually forced him to the hospital where he got the diagnosis: heart failure.
“It felt like I was both drowning and suffocating at the same time,” Schmidt said.
Although health care professionals know the symptoms of heart failure, Jorge Alvarez, M.D., heart failure fellow at the Health Science Center, said it’s still difficult to fully understand them.
“You can never truly understand the patient until you’ve stepped into their shoes,” Dr. Alvarez said.
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| Through a series of visual and audio effects, the participant is taken on a virtual tour through a heart failure patient’s daily experiences. | |
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But thanks to the Heart FX Pod, a heart failure educational simulator developed by AstraZeneca, understanding the symptoms of a heart failure patient is more precise than ever. The Health Science Center provided space last week for the bus equipped with simulators designed to help physicians realize the impact of Class II and Class III heart failure.
Several Health Science Center health care professionals participated in the simulation. It presents a patient profile and a brief orientation sequence, and is outfitted with a compression vest and foot pedals. Through a series of visual and audio effects, the participant is taken on a virtual tour through a heart failure patient’s daily experiences. The patient’s story begins the simulation and then the participant gradually begins to feel some of the physical effects of heart failure as the vest tightens and the foot pedal resistance increases. When the 5 ˝-minute simulation ends, the participant walks away having experienced the struggle heart failure patients endure each day.
“Simulators such as the Heart FX Pod are allowing physicians to experience these things that will help them to empathize with their patients,” Dr. Alvarez said. “Better diagnoses and better care is our goal in everything we do and advancing technology is allowing us to do this.”
Frequent medical treatments such as physicals and a variety of medications help Schmidt face the threats as a heart failure patient.
“A machine like the Heart FX Pod is incredible for physicians to be able to step into the patient’s shoes,” he said. “I am extremely thankful to the doctors in San Antonio and at the Health Science Center.”
