A new baby simulator was delivered to Shands Jacksonville hospital this week. The device, called BabySIM, is manufactured by Medical Education Technologies Inc., a Sarasota-based firm.

BabySIM weighs in at 21 pounds and is 28 inches in length. It simulates the characteristics of a three- to six-month old infant, and can cry, wet a diaper, has a strong pulse, heart functions, eyes that dilate and blink, sneeze, drool and react to medical treatment and drugs. It can be a girl or a boy. It can also die if the doctors, nurses and paramedics who train on the simulated infant make a serious mistake.

A. Wayne Hodges, the education coordinator of trauma and flight services for TraumaOne at Shands, said the baby simulator is the "medical equivalent of a flight simulator for a pilot."

Shands received the $52,000 product through a grant from the Children's Miracle Network. The hospital will use BabySIM to train staff, but will also offer sessions for paramedics and emergency medical technicians in a 17-county region in north Florida.