Hi Sim Champs!

Just got an email from a simulation user  looking to operate a ventilator in their simulations.  At the Clinical Simulation Center of Las Vegas we used a refurbished ventilator to add props to the sceneray but it was never very successful for creating realistic chest rise and fall.  We were able to disable the warning alarms to make it so that the scenario could play out but we would have liked a more realistic solution.

Do you have a ventilator that works well for your medical simulation program?  If so, drop me an email and tell me about it !

Did you know you can quickly and dramatically increase realism to your medical simulation program through the addition of a voice-changer? Consider the benefits of transforming the sound of a facilitator’s voice into the age and gender of the patient they are simulating.

Imagine creating a more realistic patient presentation for your medical simulation learners by changing an adult male clinical instructor’s voice into that of a child’s for your pediatrics cases, or even morphing a female educator’s voice into that of an elderly adult male patient for your geriatrics cases!

I have done several hours of research and testing to find the best software and hardware based voice changing solutions for your medical simulation labs.  Read on to learn more… Read the rest of this entry »

Pocket Nurse ® was at IMSH this year to continue demonstrating support for medical simulation.  By providing medical supplies and equipment that are specifically designed to enhance simulated healthcare learning, Pocket Nurse ® has helped to provide solutions for our emerging community.  Products such as their patented DEMO DOSE ® simulated medications provide your simulation program with ready-made solutions for your educational needs, saving staff time and energy while increasing realism for learners.

Pocket Nurse ® has also demonstrated their commitment to helping healthcare educators by supporting the medical simulation community by sponsoring scholarships, organizations, workshops and conferences in the field.  Notably, Pocket Nurse ® has sponsored scholarships and workshops at INACSL and recently became a founding sponsor of the 2012 GHOSTS meeting , or “Gathering of Healthcare Simulation Technology Specialists“.  GHOSTS continues the success of last year’s “Gathering of Technicians”, which was the world’s first conference dedicated specifically to train healthcare simulation technicians.

Watch the video below to learn more about the support Pocket Nurse ® provides to our medical simulation community!

The Air Force Medical Modeling and Simulation Training team was on-hand in the Military Expo at IMSH this year to let attendees know about their mission: to build a distributed human patient simulation network, create simulation centers of excellence, and exploit technological innovation.  I spoke with LtCol (ret) Shae Peters from AFMMAST who helped explain the benefits of simulation for professional healthcare providers.

Much like rural hospitals which can sometimes have difficulty training healthcare professionals due to infrequency of patient events, AFMMAST has found ways to incorporate simulation to expand the training potential of Air Force Medical professionals.  What is especially important to note is how AFMMAST utilized simulation to help expand training efforts even with a shrinking budget across global regions .

For more information about AFMMAST, check out the AFMMAST website as well as the video below!

Bobbie Merica is a leading expert in the field of healthcare simulation moulage.  As an accomplished simulation author, workshop educator and lab coordinator Bobbie is the definition of “simulation champion”.  But now her latest work Medical Moulage: How to Make Your Simulations Come Alive has set the bar to a whole new level!

Imagine over 630 pages of moulage recipes ranging from stings to prolapsed cords with detailed instructions for ingredients, equipment, application techniques and even cleanup!  Each recipe has several large and clear photos (over 1200 full-color in the book) which help demonstrate the steps involved and what the finished product should look like.

The clean layout and simple instructions make moulage recipes easy to understand and quick to follow.  Not only does Bobbie cover the techniques necessary to craft the specific recipe in question but also helps us “set the stage” with other moulage tips that can help further ‘bridge the gap’ to simulator realism.

To see what I mean just check out this downloadable Medical Moulage recipe for “Sutures” where Bobbie writes:

“Depending on the surgery, a postoperative suture may cause considerable pain and discomfort.  Surgical sites should be monitored closely during the first several days to watch for possible complications and to ensure wound integrity.  Place a gray-haired wig and reading glasses on simulator.  Age a hard set of teeth to show slight decay between each tooth, as appropriate for an older person (see: Teeth, Aged).

Using a makeup sponge or your fingers, liberally apply white makeup to the face of simulator, blending well.  Add a small amount of light blue eye shadow to the area under the eyes to create dark circles.  Lightly spray the forehead, upper lip, and chin of simulator with pre-made sweat mixture. “

All this before we even get to the application of the wound onto the patient! Thus, one can see the thoughtful consideration of each and every recipe designed in Medical Moulage, all of which helps to ensure we can provide a high quality simulation for our learners.

Bobbie not only provides appropriate cases to utilize for each recipe but also recommends other “usually used in conjunction with” recipes for that disease process.  For example, in this pink abscess moulage from Medical Moulage (which is just 1 of over 300 recipes), Bobbie reminds us the appropriate cases for the recipe include:

• AIDS
• Cancer
• Chemotherapy
• Chrohn’s disease
• Diabetes
• Etc.

So to summarize: I have never seen such a complete and thorough presentation of medical moulage recipes.  I guarantee if you pass Medical Moulage around at your next simulation staff and educator meeting, your team will be inspired into the creative process for designing new scenarios, updating old scenarios and adding moulage to your simulation lab toolbox.

Thus, I highly recommend Bobbie’s Medical Moulage: How to Make Your Simulations Come Alive book for every healthcare simulation lab library.  You can buy the book from amazon with the link below:

“Lights – Camera – Simulation!”

Imagine having the help of a professional film production crew in your healthcare simulation lab.  Video orientations for students to your simulation lab space? eLearning for advanced students? Training videos for new educators? Promotional videos for external users and center marketing? All possible with the help and support of a professional multimedia team!

Craig Adams, Manager of Communications and Immersive Media at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, shared some of the wonderful productions his team has accomplished for the Innovation Lab at the Center for Simulation Technology and Immersive Learning.

Notice the expert use of steady framing, panning work and camera focus which always guides the audience’s attention smoothly for excellent scene composition.  As well, the wonderful pacing of the piece demonstrates a true understanding of editing flow and the importance of integrating musical scores.  Watch another great video which demonstrates the team’s “showcase reel”:

Thinking of producing your own videos? At the Gathering of Technicians event earlier this year, we trained 85 technicians in the basics of film production.  Next August I am sure we will repeat the training somehow, but in the mean time be sure to watch my “do it yourself” tutorial on the basics of video production for your sim lab.

Looking for hard to find audio examples of infant heart rates for your pediatric simulations?

Check out these youtube videos which provide beats at various rhythms!

140 BPM

160 BPM

180 BPM

If you want to save these files you can use http://snipmp3.com/ to save these youtube files to mp3 format !

A pioneering research facility is applying aerospace simulation technology to medical research.

The Challenging Environment Assessment Laboratory, run by Toronto Rehab, includes a motion simulator four stories below ground that can recreate different environments, like winter blizzards and bustling streets.

The multimillion-dollar facility was created to test how humans interact with different environments year-round, safely and in a controlled way.

It includes a winter lab, stair lab to understand how and why people fall — a leading cause of injury and hospitalization among seniors. So far, researchers have found that as a person’s hearing starts to decline, their risk of falling increases substantially. They plan to use the lab’s visual and audio inputs to study more about how hearing loss affects balance and fall risk.

This week I was invited by Kay Nims from the Nellis Air Force Base Simulation training program to witness a demo of the Human Worn Partial Task Surgical Simulator, or CUT SUIT, by Strategic Operations.

The CUT SUIT, is a experiential immersive learning service provided by Strategic Operations wherein a medically trained acting professional wears a moulage suit over chest, torso and limbs in-order to present a live-victim engagement.  During the demonstration and with Las Vegas based Thunderbirds flying overhead, a mock IED explosion rocked the audience to attention as a soldier stumbled from behind the vehicle, simulating massive limb bleeding, blocked airway, traumatic brain injury and shock.  In all honesty, the realism of seeing a professional actor beg the paramedic to “save his leg” gave me goosebumps.

What is really unique about the CUT SUIT, is the ability of medical response teams to deal with realistic wounds on a live patient in real time.  Imagine the benefit involved with creating a realistic military or trauma scenario and actually be able to have learners make surgical cricothyroidotomy cuts into a live patient while under fire.

Check out the video highlights above and click the link below to read more about the CUT SUIT!

Read the rest of this entry »

I am happy to announce that Bobbie Merica of MoulageConcepts.com has released her new book entitled “MEDICAL MOULAGE: How to Make Your Simulations Come Alive”!

Rely on this easy-to-use guide to create over 300 special effectsfor your clinical simulations and live drills. Simple recipes andover 1,200 full-color illustrations provide step-by-step how-to’s using readily available ingredients.

Each easy-to-follow recipe specifies:

Read the rest of this entry »