Models Will Replace the Use of Animals in Advanced Training
For
Immediate Release:
August
9, 2011
Contact:
Robbyn
Brooks 202-483-7382
Glenview, Ill. — PETA is teaming up with the McGrath Family Foundation of San Diego to purchase 30 newborn patient simulators and task trainers for the National Association of Neonatal Nurses (NANN) in order to help improve training for staff nurses and neonatal nurse practitioners who treat critically ill newborn babies. The simulators will completely replace the use of animals to teach a number of lifesaving emergency procedures, including inserting tubes into umbilical blood vessels, draining fluid from the chest cavity, and extracting spinal fluid. The new simulation models will be unveiled at NANN's 27th Annual Educational Conference, which is being held from September 14 to 17 at the Caribe Royale All-Suite Hotel and Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. They will be used during the Neonatal Procedural Skills Lab, which will be led by the National Association of Neonatal Nurse Practitioners, a division of NANN.
"This donation is literally a lifesaver: It will advance training for the care of newborn babies while keeping animals out of harm's way," says PETA Vice President of Laboratory Investigations Kathy Guillermo. "We applaud NANN for embracing modern simulation models and replacing the use of animal labs."
"PETA's donation of medical simulators allows us to take our neonatal training program to the next level, above and beyond what we were able to achieve using animals," says NANN Director of Education Steve Biddle.
Studies show that training on simulators prepares medical providers to treat infants and newborn babies better than training on animals does. NANN joins the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Heart Association, and the Emergency Nurses Association, which use only simulators in their medical training programs.
The McGrath Family Foundation supports PETA's work to replace animals in laboratories with more effective and humane non-animal methods. NANN is the only association dedicated solely to neonatal nursing and represents more than 7,500 members who provide evidence-based care to high-risk neonatal patients. NANN is recognized as the expert voice that influences standards of practice through advocacy, collaboration, and leadership. NANN publishes Advances in Neonatal Care, a bimonthly, peer-reviewed medical journal.