BlockSim: A New Clinical Simulator for Training in Regional Anaesthesia

Clinical simulators for local or regional anaesthesia are excellent training tools to help doctors practice the skills necessary for ultrasound-guided regional anaesthesia. BlockSim, made by Accurate Srl and available from Nasco Healthcare, has revolutionized regional anaesthesia simulators thanks to its advanced software. This solution represents an innovative high-fidelity system for simulating interfascial plane blocks and is now very close to reality. (1) This HealthySimulation.com article highlights the many features and benefits of this medical simulation system.

Learning a new technique is not an easy goal, especially regarding the use of ultrasound-guided blocks. The success of a nerve block depends on various factors: knowledge of the equipment, the anatomy, the use of ultrasound, and good hand-eye coordination. For all these reasons, being able to simulate anaesthesiology techniques is important and allows the operator to learn, exercise, and improve techniques that – until now – could only be performed on real patients.

Central neuraxial block simulators have been on the market for years allowing the practice of epidural and spinal blocks. Simulators for peripheral nerve blocks have only recently become available and have shown to have many limitations, especially from a technological and software point of view.


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BlockSim has revolutionized the simulation of interfascial plane blocks. In fact, thanks to its innovative and high-fidelity simulation system, users can practice and develop skills using scenarios based on real clinical images. This allows for visualization of the region of interest and provides information on the trajectory of the needle towards the target. BlockSim also tests the user’s ability to identify structures. Furthermore, the system allows for visualization of the needle tip and provides the correct alignment with the desired path.

Unlike other simulators, BlockSim allows the user to perceive precise tactile feedback when inserting the needle and crossing the fascia, ensuring the typical fascial “pop” in an extremely precise way. Additionally, users can perform a simulated injection of local anaesthetic with a real syringe and display the delivery of the solution to ensure the correct distribution in the fascial plane.

BlockSim includes three realistic, durable inserts with anatomical landmarks as well as a lightweight, compact box equipped with high-fidelity sensors for motion detection, and a virtual ultrasound monitor. Users can move the ultrasound probe in different directions and observe changes while viewing real ultrasound images.

BlockSim allows you to practice on anterior chest wall blocks (PECS I, PECS II, planar dentate block, and parasternal block), paraneuraxial nerve blocks (paravertebral block and block of the plane of the erector spine [ESP]), and abdominal wall blocks (transversus abdominis plane block [TAP], quadratus lumborum block [QLB I, II and III]). The possibility of exercising the orientation of the needle with respect to the probe helps to improve the needle-probe relationship and hand-eye coordination, essential for the subsequent execution of blocks on patients. (2)


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This represents a revolution compared to other simulators used for locoregional anesthesia. Thanks to its advanced software, BlockSim allows learners to acquire skills by puncturing realistic tissue inserts and acquiring the ability to reproduce a high-fidelity block. This allows the anesthetist to have a safer approach to patients during the execution of interfascial blocks. BlockSim can be purchased from Nasco Healthcare. Visit NascoHealthcare.com to learn more.

More About Nasco Healthcare

Based in Saugerties, New York, and Fort Atkinson, WI, Nasco Healthcare provides a wide range of innovative and affordable healthcare simulation products to healthcare professionals worldwide. The company was started in 1941 by Norman Eckley, an agricultural teacher who developed educational tools from his farm. Eighty years later, Nasco Healthcare now has the largest range of healthcare simulation solutions in the world with over 6,000 rugged, reliable, and realistic products. The company’s mission is to prepare frontline healthcare workers to Be READY.

• Ready to answer the call
• Ready to make split-second decisions
• Ready to deliver when it counts
• Ready for any situation
• Ready to save lives



The company works to meet the ever-changing needs of frontline healthcare workers by offering a comprehensive portfolio of simulation products that fulfill a broad range of low and high-fidelity requirements, including virtual patients and artificial intelligence (AI).

Nasco Healthcare is passionate about developing training solutions that reflect diversity as racial and ethnic minorities tend to receive lower-quality access to healthcare. The company strongly believes that diversity in simulation helps ensure that healthcare workers are both knowledgeable and caring about the communities they will work in. This includes incorporating different skin tones into their products that reflect the unique populations that healthcare workers serve.

References

1. Pierfrancesco Fusco, Gian M Petroni, Astrid U Behr, Stefania Tullj, Gilberto Fiore, Alessandro Vergallo, Franco Marinangeli. A new generation of simulator for teaching the new wall blocks. Minerva Anestesiol. 2021 Jun;87(6):738-739

2. Vito Torrano, Francesco Zadek, Dario Bugada, Gianluca Cappelleri, Gianluca Russo, Giulia Tinti, Antonio Giorgi, Thomas Langer and Roberto Fumagalli. Simulation-Based Medical Education and Training Enhance Anesthesia Residents’ Proficiency in Erector Spinae Plane Block. Front. Med., 08 April 2022

Learn More About BlockSim – Available From Nasco Healthcare


Today’s article was guest authored by Massimo Giannessi, COO and Co-Founder of Accurate Srl.

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