A simulated teaching package that focuses on helping undergraduate medical students to improve their ability to conduct arterial blood gas (ABG) testing has been developed by a team at the Bath Academy in the U.K. This simulated teaching package is expected to advance the competence and confidence levels of Bristol university medical school undergrads to perform these important blood tests.

Arterial blood gases (ABGs) testing is often required in testing sick patients to help diagnose the severity of a condition and assist in assessing treatment. We've learned in highschool that as blood passes through our lungs, oxygen moves into the blood and carbon dioxide moves out of the blood and into the lungs. What an ABG test does is check how well the lungs are able to carry oxygen into the blood and remove carbon dioxide from the blood. The test uses blood drawn from an artery to measure its oxygen and carbon dioxide levels before they enter body tissue.

The Bath Academy, which trains the medical students at the Royal United Hospital, hopes the simulated teaching package will help to improve positive patient outcomes and gain valuable experience for the medical students. For more information, click here>>

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A training tool developed locally will help future doctors and medical personnel save lives during childbirth.

C-Celia is a one-of-a-kind, lifelike “manikin” used to teach students at the Drexel University College of Medicine to perform caesarean sections before seeing a real patient.

Dr. Owen Montgomery, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology, says the device allows a surgery resident “to actually do a caesarean using a knife and cutting through tissue and delivering a baby, just as if it was happening in the real world.  Simulation allows us to put residents in situations where they need to prepare for the future.”

Second-year resident Roxanna Irani said it was like doing the surgery for real.

“It was kind of a fun surprise to get a scalpel and, rather than be saying, ‘Okay I’m going to cut into the abdomen,’ to actually get to do it,” she said.

The damaged parts are repaired or replaced, and C-Celia is ready for the next procedure.

Source.

Making a mess of people without actually hurting them can be useful when it comes to training emergency service personnel.

A group of SES volunteers and University of Western Sydney students found that to be true when they attended a casualty simulation run by Batemans Bay’s Tactical Emergency And Medical Simulation Training (Teamst) on Tuesday.

Many of the volunteers and students had come down from Sydney to the Teamst North Batemans Bay studio just for the day, and they were tutored on how to create simulated emergency situations.

They did up “victims” of nasty accidents using the same sort of materials used by movie special effects studios.

This helps with identification and familiarisation of injuries so the right treatments can be administered.

Among the victims was one with a broken bone extending from a leg, and another who had been near an exploding pressure vessel.  

“The stuff we use is high quality and very benign, so it doesn’t cause any reactions, but it looks real,” Teamst’s Chris Laursen said.

“They can now pass these on to their fellow volunteers and students.”

Teamst usually works with military clients and this is its first simulation workshop in Batemans Bay.

Source.

UB researchers have helped develop and evaluate the first simulation-based training curriculum for robotic surgery, which has been shown to effectively train surgeons in key skills.

According to a study published in Urology, those trained with the Fundamental Skills of Robotic Surgery curriculum demonstrated greater precision in surgical skills than those who did not receive training.

Training Simulator Developed in Buffalo
The curriculum makes use of the Robotic Surgical Simulator (RoSS), one of the first simulators to accurately mimic the da Vinci Surgical System.

RoSS was developed by two of the curriculum study researchers: senior author Khurshid A. Guru, MD, who directs robotic surgery at Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI), and co-author Thenkurussi Kesavadas, PhD, who directs UB’s Virtual Reality Lab and is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering.

Training Improves Surgical Skills
Recruited from UB, RPCI, the Henry Ford Health System in Detroit and the Cleveland Clinic, 53 surgeons, fellows, residents and medical students participated in the study. Most had no prior robotic or laparoscopic surgical experience.

Initially, an experimental group completed the four-hour training course while a control group did not.

When tested on the da Vinci system, the trained group performed three tasks with more precision and speed than the control group.

Twenty-three control participants then also completed the training. When they were re-tested on the same tasks, their average performance improved considerably.

The researchers now plan further study to establish the extent to which their robotic surgery curriculum may affect long-term surgical proficiency.

More.

Ben Lynch, a fourth year medical student at the University of Oklahoma, entered the room, and introduced himself to "Mrs Gallagher." This young doctor has been sent to break some terrible news:

"The cancer's migrated further than we had hoped," Lynch said. "It's reached that point to where we can say that it's terminal."

The patient's response is emotional: "I know it will take my life when I'm ready, but I'm not ready. And there are -- I, I have plans!"

"I understand this is tough," Lynch said. "And it's okay to struggle with this, this news, okay?"

DeWayne Andrews, observing the interaction through a one-way mirror, reacts: "She's very good."

Fortunately, "Mrs. Gallagher" -- a.k.a. Beverly Rearden -- doesn't really have cancer. She's one of thousands of amateur actors hired by American medical schools to help future doctors improve their bedside manner.

Beverly is what medical schools call a standardized patient. Afterward, she critiques the future doctor's performance.

"He did the only kind of touch that was really important, and that was just a hand on top of mine and just letting me know they're going to be here for me," she told Pogue.

Is there any longer any suspicion among incoming doctors about the importance of bedside manner?

"It's more than just the drugs or the treatment," said Lynch. "It's the relationship that you're building with your patients."

Every med school hires standardized patients. But these days, simulated patients have gone high tech -- with mannequins that can simulate heart attacks, make urine, breathe, blink their eyes, even go into coma.

Are they robots? "Well, you could call them robots," said Andrews. "They're digitally-controlled mannequins that have all sorts of moving parts in them that simulate what humans do in a variety of medical conditions."

A "baby" dummy cries and twitches. A double-amputee "soldier" thrashes. "Eyes" dilate. A "tongue" swells up.

These high-tech dummies aren't cheap; they can cost $300,000 each. But they never complain, and show up for work every day to train young doctors how to perform spinal taps, draw blood, withdraw knee fluid, find deep arteries, and perform colonoscopies.

Pogue was shown how a colonoscopy is done -- by inserting into the mannequin's bottom, a "pain score" is displayed. "Sometimes, they'll shout," he's told.

More.

Human Patient Simulation has found an important place in nursing and medical training, allied health, and EMT certification programs around the world. As patient simulation technology evolves, so do the methods and technologies used in its implementation. A close look at the relationship among simulation, information technology (IT), and an audio-video (AV) specialist will reveal that they are not as alien as you may think.

An IT professional’s work may come into play when faculty and learners are faced with the challenge of using a control room in which learners cannot see what the faculty is implementing into the session. This separation allows the operator to make changes to the simulator’s physiology without alerting students of the change, thus improving medical training and learner engagement. IT will assist in this process by ensuring that the distance between the control computer and the simulator does not lose operational ability, thus helping the session run smoothly.

AV professionals have the training and expertise required to design, install, and maintain an AV system. This may include something as simple as where to place the cameras, optimizing medical training. A poorly placed camera can result in a glare from lighting in the room or be obstructed by medical equipment. HVAC vents may create background noise and vibration resulting in poor audio and a blurry image. An experienced AV specialist will determine where drawbacks exist and will offer an alternative solution prior to installation. 

Most importantly, all good simulation sessions require that learners are debriefed using the images from these carefully placed cameras. Recorded video enables the instructor to show objective evidence of a learner’s activity. All in all, the recordings can become a baseline for proper medical training, showing both the progress and decline of a learner throughout training. Video documentation is crucial. It plays an important role on the emphasis placed on evidence-based practice. An AV professional will cater to the increased need for solid research on how simulation technologies impact the quality of patient care.

Presented by H. Michael Young, Simulation Technology Specialist, Tarleton State University.

We had an overwhelming response to today's webinar. Feel free to post your questions/comments for Michael in the comments box below.

Abstract: as simulation matures within the context of healthcare education, training and assessment, the need for standardized case scenarios continues to rise. Much work has been done around this topic, and a market for pre-programmed scenarios has emerged. Faculty often don't have the time to develop scenarios from scratch, let alone program the outcomes as well. This webinar will address the challenges common to on-the-fly operation, and how programming can automate processes. Ultimately, the programmed scenario functions as a "check-list" aiding in navigation during debriefing. Learner interventions are "checked off" and the programming does the work, freeing the educator/operator to focus on assessing learners. At the end of the webinar, attendees will have a clearer picture of how programming can effectively reduce preparation time, standardize patient responses to learner interventions, and improve fidelity through team work.