The freakily realistic masks reinventing aged care education

MEET 76-year-old Dan Tucker, a former journalist turned Alstonville avocado farmer with an interest in just about everything.

'Dan Tucker', 76, and 'Margot Bennington Smythe', 81, of Lismore allow students a unique opprotunity to train and learn at Southern Cross University using masks and role playing. Photo Marc Stapelberg / The Northern Star. Picture: Marc Stapelberg

MEET 76-year-old Dan Tucker, a former journalist turned Alstonville avocado farmer with an interest in just about everything.

Dan's had a few close health shaves in recent times, such as a bowel cancer scare a couple of years ago, but is generally in pretty good shape for his age.

The thing about Dan though, is he's not actually real.

Underneath his realistic Hollywood-style silicon mask, "Dan" is actually Andrew Woods, a Southern Cross University lecturer in health and human sciences.

Dan is also accompanied by another character, Margo Bennington-Smyth, a, 81-year-old widow living in Lismore Heights whose now departed husband was a local GP.

She is played by SCU lecturer Cathy Avila.

But don't try calling Dan or Margo by their "real" name once they put their mask on - that's a definite no no.

That's because their entire reason for existence is to train nursing students in caring for elderly people in the most realistic, simulated way possible.

That sometimes means more than just donning a mask, but also rubber legs and even genitalia, to ensure students have a truly vivid experience of caring for an elderly person - without actually doing it in reality.

Known as MaskED, this cutting edge simulation program is pioneering a new way of training nursing students and is being rolled out to other health disciplines at SCU such as occupational therapy, social work, and speech pathology.

It was originally developed by Professor Kerry Reid-Searl at Central Queensland University in Rockhampton, inspired by her search for more effective methods of nursing instruction.

Mr Woods is one of six staff involved in donning the masks and body suits and role play in-depth characters who have their own detailed back stories.

He said it was superior to having actors pretending to be elderly people or actually elderly people because of the expertise of the lecturers playing the roles.

"We can guide students learning by responding in certain ways," he explained.

"They know it's not real but they do get caught in the role play of it."

The masks convey Hollywood-level realism, enough for students to be confronted by it, according to leader of the project Dr Louise Horstmanshof.

Dr Louise Horstmanshof said it was crucial for the educators to consistently remain in character until they unmasked

"Our educators draw on their years of experience in the health sector to embody these characters. Each character has her or his own voice and mannerisms. The situation becomes believable because the patient responds naturally to the student and suddenly the student gets a huge psychological buy-in."