Inside the high-tech lab where fake patients help save real lives

NEW ORLEANS (InvestigateTV) - The patient is struggling to breathe. Monitors are beeping. Medical students are checking lung sounds, reading vital signs and preparing for the next step.But this is not a real emergency room.At LSU Health New Orleans, students are training on high-tech medical simulators built to look, feel and respond like people in crisis. The simulators can speak, breathe, blink, show a pulse and change condition based on what students do next.The goal is to give future doctors hands-on practice before they face life-or-death moments with real patients.“Before it used to be you practiced on patients. Now you practice on plastic before you even touch a patient,” said Dr. Peter DeBlieux, assistant dean for LSU Health New Orleans’ Center for Advanced Learning and Simulation.Behind the scenes, a simulation team controls the patient’s voice, vital signs and medical outcome in real time. If students miss something, the patient can get worse. If they respond correctly, the p