Life-Like Mannequins Give Students A Taste Of Life In The Medical Field

Students participating in a STEM summer camp at Wake Forest School of Medicine use stethoscopes to listen to the simulated heartbeat of a high-tech demonstration mannequin. About 30 middle and high school students from Forsyth and surrounding counties visited the medical simulation labs in Wake’s education building in the Innovation Quarter downtown on Tuesday.



Students use stethoscopes to listen to the heartbeat of a demonstration mannequin.



Students display a range of reactions as they watch a demonstration on a medical simulation mannequin. The mannequins “ were a little creepy but kind of interesting,” one said.




Craig Brown, a technical specialist at the Wake Forest School of Medicine in the Wake Forest Innovation Quarter, demonstrates chest compressions on a mannequin.

Students crowded around a man Tuesday morning, feeling for a heartbeat.

“It feels like real skin!” one exclaimed.

It was an unexpected comment, given that the “man,” was actually a mannequin that simulates medical problems in people, including a falling heartbeat and respiratory problems.


A female mannequin gives birth — with all the potential complications that go with it.

Wake Forest School of Medicine is hosting a free camp this week for about 30 middle and high school Triad students focused on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math). Students were primarily from Yadkin County and the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools.

Jasmine Jason-Torain, 11, a rising sixth-grader at Hanes Magnet School in Winston-Salem, tried to find the pulse of the mannequin but said she wasn’t able to.

Jason-Torain is a gymnast, and wants to possibly be a coach one day. She said she wasn’t sure about the simulation dolls.

“They were a little creepy but kind of interesting,” she said.

Evan Dunlap, 12, a rising seventh-grader, said the students took a tour of the medical center and saw a lab, as well as 3D printers. He liked seeing the mannequins the best so far.

“I liked watching it breathe and finding a pulse,” Dunlap said.

He said he might be a doctor when he gets out of school. He’s enjoyed doing STEM activities in camp this week.

“I thought this camp would be fun and I’d get to learn something new every day, and I have,” Dunlap said.

Craig Brown, a learning technology and simulation specialist at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, used the mannequin to demonstrate for the students the proper way to administer CPR, giving 30 compressions for every two breaths.

The students got to see through a computer program if they were pressing hard and fast enough for the chest compressions.

“It’s common for broken ribs to happen,” Brown said. “Keep your elbows locked, and press just below the nipple line with the palm of your hands, with your body weight.”

He urged them to perform the compressions to the beat of the Bee Gees song, “Stayin’ Alive.”


Lesley Benton, 17, a rising junior at Starmount High in Boonville, said she wants to be a pediatric surgeon because she really likes children and helping people.

She practiced CPR on the mannequin, though it wasn’t her first time performing the life-saving measure. Benton said she’s done lifeguard training before, but it was different on the mannequin.

“It was helpful to see I needed to (press) deeper on the chest,” she said. “And this one breathes.”

The students were also tasked with creating a project in which they were a scouting team from Iowa, researching Wake Forest Innovation Quarter where Wake Forest School of Medicine is located, to create something similar in Iowa. Students in the STEM camp researched what an innovation quarter is and what’s needed to run it.

Stanford Hill Jr., director of the Center of Excellence for Research, Teaching and Learning at the school, said this is the first year the center has hosted a STEM camp. Hill said it’s critical to reach students this age to get them interested in STEM careers.

“If you don’t get children at the middle school level, it’s too late to get them in a math class for a STEM career,” he said. “Middle school years are critical. If you don’t get them into Math 1 by eighth grade, they’ll never get the advanced math they need.”

In addition to students, two teachers from the Anderson (S.C.) School District Five were at the camp for teacher training, to learn how to facilitate STEM practices in the classroom and do real-world collaboration.

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