Her name is Joy. She is the quiet type.
Joy is 5 feet 2 inches tall. That’s not to say she stands 5-foot-2, because she is lying down most of the time.
But even reclining, the impact Joy is making on nursing education in Rhode Island stands head and shoulders above other methods of anatomic learning, according to those at Rhode Island Nurses Institute Middle College in Providence.
Joy is a synthetic cadaver – called a Syndaver – the seventh such cadaver in the world being used in a high school setting, and the only one in New England, according to RINIMC.
Previously, the school had used hard, plastic models of the human body and its organ systems for study. But Joy’s replaceable muscles, bones, organs, veins and arteries are made from materials that mimic live tissue, giving nursing students an extraordinarily realistic look at the human body and its inner workings, said Pamela McCue, a registered nurse and CEO of RINIMC.
“It all feels real,” she said.
RINIMC’s program works to prepare its students, who McCue said are largely from the city’s urban core, for the high-demand, high-wage jobs of nursing.
The R.I. Department of Labor and Training has registered nurses on its list of top occupations between 2014 and 2024. It’s a profession with the most anticipated openings due to growth and turnover. With a focus on the sciences such as biology, the school is a dual-enrollment facility in which its students can earn workforce certifications and do internships.
So, with demand for nurses and a need for quality nursing training, Joy’s arrival at the school earlier this year was excitedly anticipated. It took several months, said McCue, but Joy was finally shipped from her manufacturer, SynDaver Labs in Tampa, Fla.
The Syndaver – with a $70,000 price tag – was tailored for RINIMC.
Joy’s gender, height, estimated age and body type were chosen to best reflect the more than 270 students at the school. She couldn’t be too big or heavy, as students must be able to lift her, McCue explained, to turn her over and study various muscles.
“We had to buy a real mortuary table. Even though she is a 5-foot-2 female, it was quite the endeavor to get her up; we had an elevator to do that. Joy is one-of-a-kind, custom-made for us,” said McCue. “She even arrived with a little tag on her toe.”
With mechanical, thermal and physicochemical properties at play, Syndavers are a new option for medical study. Previously only live animals, live humans and standard cadavers were used by students. Standard cadavers are not ideal as they carry risks, McCue noted, as chemicals such as formaldehyde are used in the preservation process.
But Syndavers remove that risk, and can help with medical-device research, nursing trainings and surgical stimulations.
The innovation, says SynDaver Labs, is about as close to a real human body as one can get.
“Individual tissues have been validated over the last two decades to accurately mimic the mechanical, dielectric and physicochemical properties of the relevant living tissue,” according to the company’s website. “The resulting tissues respond to all known imaging techniques and medical devices just as live tissue does.”
Students needed special training in procedures such as washing their hands and wearing gloves before touching the Syndaver, to preserve its condition. McCue said its synthetic, organic tissues can break down over time.
‘Our mission is to prepare RNs and provide advanced health care provider learning.’
PAMELA MCCUE, Rhode Island Nurses Institute Middle College CEO
Joy also needs regular maintenance: monthly sponge baths are recommended by the manufacturer. As Joy resembles a real patient, at RINIMC the task is another nursing-skill learning opportunity.
Student Jasnelly Tavares, of Providence, grade 12, regrets that Joy had not been at the school when she was in the lower grades.
“I wish I could experience more Joy,” she said. “It could have helped me with anatomy.”
Tavares said the previous plastic models the school used didn’t feel like real organs, nor did they provide a lot of movement. She calls the new technology a big upgrade.
The new addition to the school was possible due to a grant from the Champlain Foundation, based in Providence. RINIMC applied for the grant in the fall.
The University of Rhode Island is the only university in the state with a synthetic cadaver, which it has reportedly had for about two years. Thanks to the foundation, RINIMC has now been able to join this exclusive educational group that uses a Syndaver as a learning tool.
In addition to providing about as real of a human body as possible, the Syndaver’s value is maximized with use in art-related classes at RINIMC as well, such as Art in Health and a new anatomical theater course. Students learn about anatomy by sketching the body systems, said McCue, and sketch a self-portrait with an anatomical component, for example. Joy will serve as a high-technology model for these learning initiatives.
“Our mission is to prepare RNs and provide advanced health care provider learning,” McCue said.
With Joy, the high school is well on its way.
