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Medical Simulation Training: Market Share, Projected Growth

SEM TRAINERS / / Clinical Skills, Medical Simulation, Medicine, Nursing Education, Simulation-based Learning

Over the years, we have recognized the potential of using simulation training to further the state of the global healthcare system. With recent technological advancements, simulators have not only started gaining recognition and acceptance, but are starting to become the norm. Numerous researches have been carried out to predict where medical simulation training will reach by the year 2030.

Expected Market Growth by 2030

In 2020, the global medical simulation market was valued at $1,687.5 million- this is the total product and service sales revenue it totalled in that entire year. In 2021, this was $1.8 billion. And this is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 13.9% as of 2021. And by 2028, this rate could reach anywhere from 14.4% to 16.3%. So, the market is projected to reach $6,688.6 million by 2030. That is almost 6.7 billion dollars! Even within the medical simulation market, the market share of models and simulators is the highest of all the products and services available. 

What is driving the growth of the medical simulation market?

As technology advances and we create a better global healthcare system for ourselves, we see a rise in the growth of medical simulation devices in our hospitals and our medical and nursing education systems or facilities. We have observed a series of rapid advancements in healthcare technologies over the last few decades, and continue to do so with technologies like Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, 3D printing, and nanotechnology, and these will continue to shape the future of healthcare for years to come. And given how a number of invasive techniques are starting to become the standard for many surgical procedures, this is further driving the market growth of medical simulation as there is a need for skilled professionals to perform surgeries like laparoscopy.

We are really starting to adopt medical simulation

A major factor for the adoption of medical simulation is the frequency of medical errors that happen globally. Statistically, around 5.2 million medical errors happen every year in India. Of these, around 98,000 people die – every year, due to medical negligence and mistakes. With the quality of technology we have at our disposal today, that is just not acceptable. There is an urgent need to identify and remedy this. Reducing medical errors not only results in saving lives, but it also reduces administration errors, preparation errors, and overall costs.

The difference that simulation training makes

It has been proved research after research that simulators and manikins have been playing an indispensable role in how we approach healthcare and how we train the next generation of medical and nursing professionals each time. Simulation is the only teaching method able to provide repeated hands-on experience with real-time feedback in a safe, controlled environment- without causing any harm or inconvenience to real patients. It creates a forgiving environment that not only lets learners make mistakes and learn from them, but because they have the permission to make mistakes, it gives them the freedom to look around and play with all the features and controls. It enables generations of aspirants to become skilled and capable enough before transitioning to the real clinical setting; it makes them competent enough to do that. This, in turn, also reduces healthcare costs. Additionally, the enhancement of clinical competence further fuels the market growth of the medical simulation market.

Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on the Growth Rate of Medical Simulation Training

As the pandemic unraveled in the last few months of 2020, with border restrictions and the ongoing healthcare crisis, the focus was predominantly on handling acute operational demands instead of on addressing training needs. The growth rate observed was only 1.5% as compared to the projected growth rate of 9.2% predicted before the pandemic.

Key Challenges Affecting the Demand for Medical Simulation

There is a communication and skill gap between simulation experts and clinical staff. Additionally, for a clinical skills lab to be successful, it is important to have the necessary amount of clinical staff skilled at running a simulation lab, handling the simulators, and being able to execute simulation scenarios that are accompanied by debriefing. Another challenge is the inability to deal with the problems posed by unreliable wireless connectivity in wireless simulators.

Things are really starting to pace up after the pandemic for the medical simulation industry. What the future holds for the industry will certainly be interesting to watch.

Medical Manikins: 7 Things to Keep in Mind While Buying Them

SEM TRAINERS / / Medical Simulation

The introduction of simulation into how we approach medical training has remarkably revolutionized the field, to say the least. Not only are medical manikins extremely realistic and lifelike with realistic anatomy, they help provide hands-on experience by minimizing the risk of operating on real patients while also building critical communication and decision making skills.

Once you have decided to purchase medical manikins for your training program, there are a few things to consider so that you end up getting nothing but the best.

Price and Budget of Medical Manikins

While it would undoubtedly be perfect if everyone could always just get the state-of-the-art high-fidelity ones, it is not always possible because of budgeting constraints. At SEM Trainers, the most ardent medical manikins supplier in India, we give you dozens of options to choose from, no matter what your budget is.

One question you need to ask yourself is whether it’s the best idea to buy one rather costly medical manikin or to split that budget across the lab. You also want to avoid paying for advanced features that you don’t need, and that will probably end up never being used.

And then there is the cost of training, installation, warranty, and service fees. When it comes to price, you will have to make the decision keeping in mind the features that you need so that the manikin can fulfill the purpose of your training without burning holes in your pocket.

Functionality of Medical Manikins

Does the manikin come with the basic features you need for the training? Does it come with any extra features? What are the benefits of one over the other? What skills will the learner be able to take home? While manikins may have been huge in the past, with time, they have gotten smaller and lighter. You’re good to go as long as you know what you need-your specific requirements. And as an instructor, you know best what you need the manikin to be able to do.

And it just doesn’t make sense to purchase incredibly advanced manikins with features you will never need- a simulator that you will only use to around half its potential. Sometimes, you can just get the basic manikin and buy that extra part/feature separately. Like if you need your students to learn to place a catheter and get proper fluid return, you can either get the manikin that provides all that, or just the basic model with the arm purchased separately. This also frees up money to be spent on other necessities.

Delivery Time

Once you have made your decision, you need to make sure to order in time. High-quality medical manikins from top foreign brands can take some time to reach you. At SEM Trainers, we are devoted to getting these to you as soon as possible, but it’s always a good idea to order your manikins well in advance.

Long-Term Equipment Maintenance Costs

Medical manikins are a commitment. Just purchasing the right manikins won’t be all, you’ll need to regularly maintain them to avoid having to buy new ones because your old ones keep getting dysfunctional. You will want to look for manikins that are easy to maintain, wash, and clean.

Size and Weight

Make this decision according to your needs. If you will be traveling with the manikin a lot, it won’t make sense to lug around a heavy manikin. So, you will need one that is lightweight. But if it will stay in one place, you may want to trade weight for durability.

Feedback Mechanism

Depending on what skills you intend to teach with the help of the manikin, it should be a manikin with a feedback mechanism that lets you easily read feedback and assess performance.

Material of Medical Manikins

Some people may be allergic to latex. If you are worried about that, you may be better off investing in latex-free medical manikins.

We hope you will keep these factors in mind when making your next purchase. Although some factors may depend on your specific needs, in the end, the manikin you pick out should be trustworthy and reliable. And at SEM Trainers, the leading medical manikins supplier in India, we make sure you go home with nothing but the best.

Find out the top 7 CPR Manikins best suitable for Emergency CPR training.

Importance of Medical Simulation in Obstetrics & Gynecology

SEM TRAINERS / / Equipment

The individual healthcare professionals and teams are called for the development and maintenance of skills that are necessary for effective and safe clinical care, and this is termed as ‘Medical Simulation’. In this, the trainee surgeons become more efficient and gain confidence by practising and treating their patients remotely. David Kolb (1982) developed the Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) that explains how simulation is another name for deep learning.

The simulation-based training should be fully funded and integrated within training programmes at all stages for the clinician so that the operative gynecology fully takes the advantage of the benefits that the explosion of endoscopic surgery has offered in recent years. It is important for all healthcare organisations to value and adequately resource the simulation-based training, high-quality simulation training to be delivered by developing a skilled faculty of expert clinical facilitators and the necessity of human factors training to safe care to be widely communicated.

Learn about Birthing Simulator RealMom 2.0

Introduction to Simulation in Obstetrics and Gynecology

About 46% of all maternal deaths and 40% of neonatal deaths happen during labour or the first 24 hours after birth.

Permaturity (35%), neonatal infections (33%), birth asphyxia (20%), and congenital malformations (9%) are one of the main causes of newborn deaths.

To increase skills and knowledge acquisition in obstetric and gynecologic clinical scenarios, simulation is used as a valuable teaching tool. The obstetric and gynecologic simulation also plays a very important role in both competency-based as well as outcome-based medical education. The ability of simulators to reproduce clinical situations has been brought into use in obstetric and gynecologic education, whereas they were created in the 1920s for flight training for pilots, initially.

Read more: Birthing Simulator with Articulating Birthing Fetus

The simulations that are used in medical training were used first in the 1960s with standardized mannequins and patients. With the development of simulation software for medical education, simulation has also continued to evolve in the 1980s.

It is an effective way for students and residents to develop their abilities in a safe learning environment. A realistic approach is offered by simulation for practising such skills that do not cause harm to a living patient. Although, due to the decreased volume, the residents may not encounter specific cases but the reduction in duty hours has shown to enhance the quality of standardized examination scores for them and simulation allows them and students to experience skills and cases scenarios that might come into use in a reproducible environment.

Simulated learning interactions with patients is provided by standardized patients and is very advantageous in obstetrics and gynecology to practice and model procedures in simulated scenarios. Clinical simulation encounters offer learning skills for instrument deliveries, standard delivery, shoulder dystocia, postpartum haemorrhage, massive blood transfusion protocol, fetal malpresentation, amniotic fluid emboli or disseminated intravascular coagulation. Robotic operative and Laparoscopic simulations facilitate operative skills for salpingectomy, oophorectomy, hysterectomy, and access to the abdomen.

Role of Medical Simulation in Obstetrics & Gynecology

Curriculum Development

The transition away from the classic master-apprentice model is allowed by simulation. They are executed with various gynecologic and obstetric procedures such as management of postpartum haemorrhage, pediatric-adolescent gynecology exams, interdisciplinary obstetric emergencies, cesarean sections and laparoscopic hysterectomy.

Other examples of procedure-specific simulation in gynecology include – operative hysteroscopy, laparoscopic tubal ligation, loop electrosurgical excision procedure, vaginoscopy, cystoscopy, and vaginal repairs, salpingectomy, total abdominal hysterectomy, vaginal hysterectomy, Burch colposuspension, laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy, laparoscopic hysterectomy.

Did you check: Basic Lucy – Emotionally Engaging Birthing Simulation

Procedural Skills Assessment

Though simulation in the field of obstetrics and gynecology is widely available across the world, there still exists a disparity in the benefit learned and retention during simulations. That is why there is a need to develop a standardized way of assessing knowledge of students and residents after each simulation experience.

Increasing the Outcomes of the Healthcare Team

The simulation training in obstetrics and gynecology has helped in enhancing knowledge acquisition and it has also introduced residents and students to increased levels of care coordination and interpersonal communication that somehow resulted in the increase in the overall performance of the team. There have been increased patient-centred care and safety and improved outcomes through the use of simulation.

Conclusion

Simulation is essential for improving the skill level of obstetricians and gynecologists. The training in simulation offers the opportunity for participants to acquire team-based skills and procedural knowledge in a safe environment.

ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support) – Types & Providers

SEM TRAINERS / / Uncategorized

ACLS is the acronym of Advanced Cardiac Life Support. It is a set of techniques and procedures for treating sudden life-threatening conditions such as cardiac arrest, shock, stroke, and trauma. The goal is to achieve the best possible outcome for all those individuals.

This process is a series of evidence-based responses compatible enough to memorize and be recalled under some traumatic conditions and stabilize them in the moment of stress. This includes restoring normal essential signs and alertness. These techniques and procedures are categorized into algorithms that are a set of standard guidelines that help in the speed, effectiveness and outcomes of ACLS.

The protocols of ACLS are formed after a lot of research, patient case studies, clinical studies, and the opinions of experts in this respective field. ACLS is a kind of intensive medical care that saves lives but it is not successful in all cases. It does not reverse or cure an underlying end-stage or life-threatening condition.

Types of ACLS Treatments

  • Airway stabilization and treatment including inserting a breathing tube in the windpipe (intubation). Mechanical ventilation that uses a ventilator assists or executes breathing.
  • Pacing to rectify certain abnormal heartbeats
  • Breathing treatments to open constricted airways due to allergic reactions, asthma, or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease)
  • Intravenous (IV) or central venous catheter placement to deliver fluids, blood transfusions and medications
  • Cardioversion to cure certain cardiac arrhythmias (abnormal heartbeats). A known example is atrial fibrillation. Cardioversion uses medications or low-energy electrical shocks to restore an ordinary heartbeat.
  • IV medications to cure many conditions. IV medications can reverse life-threatening allergic reactions, suppress abnormal heartbeats and correct acidosis. They can help in the reduction of the workload on the heart, decrease fluid buildup, and dissolve a clot that is resulting in a heart attack. They can also help with blood pressure and vital signs.
  • Defibrillation to restore a natural heartbeat using a high-energy electrical shock
  • Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to keep oxygenated blood pumping through the body until the heart and lungs can execute the same function on their own. This demands pushing down fast and firmly on the chest.
  • Oxygen therapy to enhance the amount of oxygen in the blood
  • Arterial line insertion to constantly take blood pressure readings. It also comes with a catheter in an artery to draw blood for necessary lab tests.
  • Needle decompression or Chest tubes to re-inflate a collapsed lung

When Advanced Cardiac Life Support is Performed?

ACLS is performed at the time of severe life-threatening conditions such as:

  • Heart conditions consisting of cardiac arrest, heart attack, cardiac arrhythmias (abnormal heartbeats), certain congenital heart defects (birth defects), and congestive heart failure.
  • Severe allergic reactions come under anaphylaxis, a dangerous allergic reaction
  • Coma due to stroke, head injury, meningitis, seizures, or diabetes
  • Electrolyte imbalance that comes with abnormal amounts of potassium, calcium or magnesium in the bloodstream
  • Arrhythmias include ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation, supraventricular tachycardia, and rapid atrial fibrillation
  • Shock due to extreme bleeding, spinal cord injury, heart conditions, and sepsis (a body-wide reaction to infection)
  • Trauma and injuries undertaking severe burns, major cuts, head and spinal cord injuries, multiple trauma, and smoke inhalation
  • Drug toxicity and chemical exposure that consists of overdose, poisoning, or major adverse effects of medications and street drugs
  • Respiratory failure including problems because of asthma, pulmonary oedema (fluid in the lungs), and pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung)
  • Terminal illnesses having end-stage liver failure and advanced cancer

Who are ACLS Providers?

ACLS can only be provided by qualified health care providers because only they have the ability to manage the person’s airway, operate emergency pharmacology, read and interpret electrocardiograms, and initiate vascular access. These providers consist of physicians, pharmacists, paramedics, advanced practice providers (physician assistants and nurse practitioners), respiratory therapists, and nurses. The other responders may also be trained to be of help at the time of emergencies.

It is important for the advanced cardiac life support providers to be very particular about their timeliness and to provide the intervention that suitably fits the needs of every individual. A quick and exact assessment of their condition is required for the proper utilization of ACLS. This should not only be followed at the initial stage of assessment but also at the time of reassessment throughout the course of treatment with ACLS.

Here is the list of ACLS manikins by the best medical manikin distributor of India – SEM Trainers & Systems:

Trauma Manikins – Surgical Procedures Involved & Application

SEM TRAINERS / / Medical Simulation

Traumatic injuries have a great chance of becoming the third-largest cause of death around the world. Trauma is no different than any other illnesses and injuries that arise anywhere near the top ten list. The people working in emergency care make constant efforts to improve the care provided to traumatic patients. For that many other metrics have also been added for them as an evolution of care.

In a dynamic condition, patients can be treated with the help of healthcare simulation. Also, medical simulation is used to deliver, record and assess the applications of life-saving interventions and treatments in a high frequency and low consequence environment. This has resulted in the development of a class of manikins that are called ‘Trauma Manikins’.

Introduction To Trauma Manikins

Trauma Manikin is a surgical simulation manikin used for medical professionals, to teach them surgical skills, including the American College of Surgeons’ Advanced Trauma Of Life Support (ATLS) program. At the time of combat situations, advanced surgical skills training is provided through Trauma Manikins. These surgical trainers are preferably used at the place of a simulation trainer by both instructor and medical students for teaching emergency trauma surgical skills.

As for any manikin-based clinical simulation, there are many manufacturers that design ‘Trauma Manikins’ based on the traumatic situation they are going to be used for the demonstration. The educators and administrators have a tendency to pick a manikin that has the label ‘Trauma Care’ as according to them, that particular kind must be the best to meet their individual needs. Not only this, but there are some manikins which are specially endorsed by different organisations to be the only manikin that is suitable comprehensively for a specific course. As it becomes important for the instructors to have the specific manikins for the specific courses and not the ones that do not meet their needs.

Surgical Procedures

Basically, a ‘Trauma Manikin’ can be used to simulate the needed experience or skill set of a particular profession which is related to the care that a medical professional is considered to deliver in a scenario that involves traumatic injury. These manikins may include any or all of the following simulation healthcare capabilities and are used to train on the following surgical procedures:

  • Cricothyrotomy
  • Percutaneous tracheostomy
  • Needle decompression
  • Chest tube insertion
  • Pericardiocentesis
  • Diagnostic peritoneal lavage
  • Intravenous cutdown
  • Humans like weight and issues related to musculoskeletal stabilization and transfer
  • Articulable head and neck to allow for cervical spine manipulation and immobilization
  • Haemorrhage control including exhibiting haemorrhage, ability to cease blood flow with well-aimed direct pressure, tourniquet, or surgical intervention
  • Airway intervention including intubation or other advanced airway devices, needle and/or surgical cricothyrotomy, tracheostomy, insertion of NPA and OPA, and other less common airway interventions
  • Needle decompression of the chest
  • Chest tube maintenance, and monitoring
  • Surgical interventions for traumatic injuries
  • Various ultrasound examinations
  • Simulated open and closed musculoskeletal injuries
  • Amputations and various levels of simulated bleeding
  • Additional simulation of associated signs and symptoms related to patient presentation after a traumatic injury
  • Often these manikins are also “designed or improved to be hard-wearing or shock-resistant” in order to be used in environments that mirror more common points of injury sites.

There are various kinds of manufacturers who have their own way of providing varying degrees of simulated skills through trauma manikins and combinations of the above and other different capabilities to satisfy the demands at different levels of providers.

Some specific examples that do not include trainers but only consist of manikins that are specifically built for traumatic situations, being different from other manikins that are able to simulate some trauma skills in addition to their normal capabilities:

Nasco Healthcare

Trucorp company

3B Scientific

OEI tactical casualty simulators

Simulaids

Application in Trauma Simulation

There is a trend both in peer-reviewed literature and in the industry investment in trauma simulation – The capability to simulate the trauma scenarios that are more and more complex and realistic with the use of high fidelity, high technology, manikin based simulation.

This has given rise to the increased usage and coordination of technical and non-technical skills in the delivery of simulated patient care. The function and coordination of this care eventually lead to more research being done on how to accomplish the topmost level of quality and efficiency in the delivery of trauma care.

IV Injection Procedure – Understand The Types & Uses

SEM TRAINERS / / Equipment

The medical term ‘Intravenous’ is derived from the words ‘Into the vein’ and some medications are given through intravenous injection to send them directly into your vein using a needle or tube. Intravenous (abbreviated as IV) Injection is a medical technique that is used to provide food and other nutrition to those who cannot consume it by mouth. The invention of this technique is said to have been done in the early 1400s but it was brought to use in the 1900s when it was recorded completely safe and effective. This IV injection technique is also used to administer other medical therapies such as blood products or electrolytes to correct electrolyte imbalances.

Types of IV Injection Processes

There are four types of IV injection procedures that are used for different medical purposes:

1. IV Push

IV Push is also called ‘Bolus’. In this type of IV injection, a syringe is inserted into the catheter to send a quick into the bloodstream. This might be done either at a quick pace or slowly, over the course of a few minutes. Some medications, like IV plain solution, are administered right after IV Push to force the medicine into the bloodstream and is called IV Flush.

2. IV Infusion

IV Infusion is a controlled administration of medication into the bloodstream in time duration. Two types of IV Infusion uses either gravity or a pump to send the medication into the catheter:

2.1 Pump Infusion: This method is quite common in the US and is used when the medication dosage is fixed and controlled.

2.2 Drip Infusion: This method uses gravity to send the medication in a fixed amount over a set period of time. With a bag, the solution drips slowly into the catheter for the medication.

Do check – Quality-rich & durable I.V Injection Arm P50/1

3. IV Piggyback

This administration is used at the same time with the IV Infusion and is termed as secondary IV or IV Piggyback. This also helps in the prevention of multiple IV lines in the same person. At the time of this medication, a primary bag is held lower than the secondary bag so that a smooth flow is not hindered.

4. Central Venous Catheter

Long term medications for treatments like Chemotherapy, demands Central Venous Catheter instead of standard IV Catheter and is inserted into a vein in the neck, chest, arm or groin area. CVC lasts for a larger period of time than the standard IV line for many weeks and months. It is basically of three types:

  • Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC)
  • Tunnelled Catheter
  • Implanted Port.

Learn more – Useful Central Venous Cannulation Simulator

Uses Of IV Injections

1. Medication

Medications are mixed with fluids through an IV route to administer when a fast onset of action is desired. In extreme high blood pressure, IV Antihypertensives are given to control any organ damage. IV medications are also used to cure chronic health conditions such as Cancer.

2. Fluid treatment

Fluid solutions are given as a part of ‘Volume Expansion’ which consists of administration through a fluid-based solution to aim at the specific organs of the body that require more amount of water. There are two kinds of volume expander:

2.1 Crystalloids: These are aqueous solutions of mineral salts or other soluble molecules. The most commonly used crystalloid fluid is Normal Saline.

2.2 Colloids: These contain large insoluble molecules like gelatin. Blood is also a colloid.

3. Blood products

A blood product is basically any component of blood which is collected from a Donor in order to transfuse blood. Blood Transfusions are used in case of surgeries or massive blood loss in someone’s body. Modern blood transfusion methods use components of blood, whereas, early blood transfusions used whole blood.

4. Nutrition

Some people are unable to get nutrition normally by eating and digesting food. Then Parenteral IV Nutrition is used that consists of intravenous solutions containing salts, dextrose, amino acids, lipids and vitamins. If a person is receiving nutrition intravenously, it’s called Total Parenteral Nutrition. If a person is receiving some of the nutrition intravenously, it’s called Partial Parenteral Nutrition or Supplemental Parenteral Nutrition.

5. In sports

Being a former technique before, the World Anti Doping Agency prohibits intravenous injections of more than 100ml per 12 hours, except if there is a medical condition, as they believed IV therapy changed blood test results, urine mask results and it prohibited substances in such a way that got disappeared from the body to pass an anti-doping test.

6. Imaging

The administration of a contrast agent is inserted into the vein to clearly distinguish the internal parts of the body through the process of imaging. This also helps in the increased visibility of blood vessels or other features.

7. Hangover treatment

A non-prescription IV solution of minerals and vitamins was sold as a hangover cure and general wellness remedy in the 1960s. Intravenous therapy is also used by people to correct electrolyte and vitamin deficiencies that began because of alcohol consumption.

Side Effects Of IV Injections

Though IV injections are generally safe, they still might cause both mild and dangerous side effects such as allergic reactions, infection, damage to blood vessels and injection site, air embolism and blood clots.

This was a brief article on the intravenous (IV) injections, its types, their essential uses with side effects. Feel free to share your queries and feedback in the comment section below, SEM Trainers & Systems would be glad to assist you.

Clinical Skills Training – Development, Facilities & Training Centres

SEM TRAINERS / / Uncategorized

Clinical Skills Training is specially designed for students to obtain and integrate general and special medical skills at the patient’s bedside. General history taking and examination procedures are being taught and practised through Clinical Skills Training. This occurs among the students first and then to the patients as well from the involved departments and hospitals. The goals of Clinical Skills Training are mentioned as scripts and guidelines.

Medical Simulation is a Disruptive Change in Medicine

It has changed the ancient and age old practice “One Doctor to One Apprentice”, a practice in “Residency Training” which was introduced by Dr Halsted at the turn of the 20th Century. This “Master-Apprentice Model” served well for the exigencies of that age and time. “The time now is to redesign for the requirements of the current era. However It should be noted that “disruptions” are the originators of paradigm shifts in human evolution, social developments and in scientific discoveries. Disruptions lead to paradigm transformational changes. Simulation has for the first time in the history of medicine, made it possible for the Apprentice to acquire, practice, and become proficient on demand, besides meeting the critical requirements of various Clinical Competencies says Dr. Stephen C. Schimpff in his book “The Future of Medicine-Megatrends in Healthcare”.

Why Simulation is becoming “Indispensable”

Simulation is now rapidly becoming an important and integral adjunct to Medical Education and training.

Let us look at the reasons why Simulation is becoming so indispensable for Healthcare Training.

  • Learning any new skill means making mistakes
  • Making mistakes is a normal part of the learning process. Learning medical procedures has traditionally meant making mistakes on real patients.
  • Making mistakes on real patients can put the patients at serious risks sometimes life threatening, but
  • Hands on “Experiential” learning is indispensable for Healthcare Professionals, be it at a basic nursing level, or undergraduate level or post graduate level or even at the practicing level

Development in Clinical Skills Training

The training of appropriate clinical skills is an essential element of healthcare education. It is seen that students are able to gain all the theoretical knowledge but somewhere lack the skills in practical and physical examination and thus, are unable to take simple and practical procedures. Hence, Clinical Skills Training makes a strong part of the core curriculum and this training programme ensures that all the students have the necessary learning opportunities and the appropriate assessment.

With frequent changes in the healthcare delivery process and pressure on clinical resources, the desired educational targets are not easily achieved with so many number of students. The hospital wards are not always the appropriate settings for the students to be introduced to clinical skills, practise them and master the essential technique. Thus, clinical laboratories were established to provide students the necessary environment in which they can get the training in clinical skills in a systematic manner using effective educational strategies and experiences.

Clinical Skills Competencies

Clinical skills competencies include:

  • Communication and history-taking skills
  • Professional attitudes and awareness of the ethical basis of healthcare
  • Physical examination, procedural and clinical laboratory skills
  • Diagnostic and therapeutic skills
  • Resuscitation skills
  • Critical thinking, reasoning and problem-solving skills
  • Team-working, organisation and management skills
  • Information and technology skills

Clinical Skills Facilities

To develop clinical skills competencies using manikins, fellow class members, simulated and real patients, clinical skills facilities have a space set aside for this purpose. The feedback is also provided through television monitoring or directly through simulated trained patients, their instructors or tutors. Because of these reasons, many medical institutions have now set up clinical skills training facilities or are in the process of doing so.

Targets According to Educational Needs

The clinical skills training is planned having one group in mind. It is usually set up in the context of a new undergraduate medical curriculum with the targeted users being medical students. The target users, however, can be broadened to involve other students from a wide variety of healthcare backgrounds and at various stages of their healthcare development.

Clinical Skills Training Centres

There are many financial, management and educational arrangements for clinical skills training where the multipurpose education remains ascertained. But to make students learn together in carefully selected, practically relevant, task-based scenarios, that prepares students from different professional backgrounds for later work practice as the members of the healthcare team, clinical skills training centres are made. They provide an ideal setting for the early development of such relationships.

Use of these clinical skills training centres by students at different phases of their educational spectrum (undergraduate or basic training, post graduate or vocational training, continuing professional development) emphasizes the importance of the continuous sequence of education. Thus, the making clinical skills training centre accessible by different groups of students allows the facilities to be consumed in a much proper way.

Different Approaches Through Studies

There are many approaches that focus on how to engage students in self-directed learning and peer learning activities to improve clinical skills training in undergraduate medical students. In the first study, the clinical skills training provided by student teachers and associate professors is compared. The results have shown the student teachers performing as good as or even better than associate professors when they are giving simple clinical skills training.

The second study examines how complex clinical skills, such as patient management skills, develop with increasing levels of competence. To reflect this change, the Reporter-Interpreter-Manager-Educator framework was used and explored. In the third study the effects of training in pairs (also known as dyad practice) were examined. This study showed that the students practicing in pairs significantly out-performed those training alone using RIME-based assessments and that dyad training significantly improved students’ confidence in managing future patient encounters. The final study examined students’ use of self-directed clinical encounter cards (CECs) based on the RIME framework.

Results from this study showed that self-directed CECs can have positive effects on participatory practice and clinical reasoning when implemented in a supporting environment but the chance of success depends on the context of use.

For Ideal Skills Lab Development Programme, contact us.

Medical Simulation Over The Years: How It Is Revolutionizing Healthcare

SEM TRAINERS / / Uncategorized

Roughly 50,00,000 deaths happen each year due to preventable medical errors during treatment, and this is often caused by limited practical knowledge among the doctors and the nurses. Many times, they just don’t have the knowledge and resources to deal with unexpected adverse events that can affect the outcome of a treatment. Such huge numbers are alarming and simply unacceptable at a place that is largely dedicated to saving lives. Looking at these statistics, it becomes urgent to look at how we approach medical training. Often, a short delay in taking care of breathing can lead to organ dysfunction and poorer outcomes despite excellent treatment. With proper training, the mortality rate from such medical negligence can be brought down to nearly 50% of what it is today, according to experts. If we train our doctors and nurses through comprehensive, realistic hands-on training, we can certainly cut the death toll in half. And simulation has come a long way in helping us with that. Today, we have come a long way in using medical simulation to improve the quality and accessibility of timely healthcare services.

Medical simulation, also known as healthcare simulation, is the act of reproducing realistic clinical settings to provide aspirants a chance for a hands-on experience while avoiding errors on real patients while training. Whether it’s carried out in the classroom or a special space built for simulation, it generally uses artificial manikins or real actors for patients, and various scenarios and situations are reproduced at different fidelities to make the training realistic and informative.

How Simulation Was Used In The Past

Some of the earliest medical simulators we used were human models that we made from clay and stone. When it was still relatively new, simulation was being used to train medical professionals so that it would dramatically reduce the number of errors during surgery, prescription, and crisis interventions, and in general practice all the same. Anesthesia physicians would use it to reduce accidents. Then around 1930, they built trainers for flight and military applications, and many other field experts began adopting it to suit their own needs.

human skeleton

But even though it was proving to be a game-changer, technological and medical knowledge limitations held us back and simulation did not catch on. Then through extensive military use, we realized how cost-effective and powerful it was at training, with the advancing hardware and software, we established certain medical standards and could now afford medical simulation. However, for long, it has remained unstandardized.

Simulation: Where We Are Today

In the last two decades, our use of simulation in healthcare training has increased a great deal. Today, simulation does more than just perfect medical professionals in their practice. Let’s look at a world without simulation. Trainees need to learn, and they will certainly make mistakes along the way. If we assign them to real patients, not only might it make the patients uncomfortable, but we might risk large complications due to minor errors. And with certain intimate and invasive procedures, some patients might refuse to be overseen by a trainee. Even though they might step into the industry after intensive education, without any actual experience, they are but beginners.

Simulation is now being used to provide detailed first-hand (but supervised) training in a safe and controlled environment to medical aspirants in anatomy, physiology, and communication as well. And then, they are debriefed so they can be assessed and given feedback on their performance in real-time. Simulation helps shorten the learning curve by allowing the student to learn by repetition and without being stressed out. And when we simulate realistic scenarios (like designing simulation rooms with bathroom spaces to simulate bathroom falls for the patients), it may make for a more realistic training experience. The simulators we have today are more realistic than ever. Not only do they look lifelike, the skin and various body parts and casualties look and respond just like they would if they were real.

Along with the procedural skills, through the realistic scenarios, the students also learn critical decision-making and interpersonal skills that they can take with themselves to the clinical setting. Many studies have discovered that students trained through medical simulation achieve overall higher scores and retention rates than the ones trained through traditional methods.

As we have begun to embrace medical training through simulation, we have effectively improved the quality of healthcare we receive. And as technology advances further, we will keep refining our competence for years to come.

How simulation guides and trains for Hospital – Acquired Infections (HAI)?

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Healthcare facilities work at large with contractor employees and healthcare workers to achieve operational efficiency. The elevator technicians, electricians, flooring contractors, painters, plumbers, etc. lack the functional knowledge of the adverse effects of their work on a low immunity patient. Maintaining hand hygiene has been the propaganda for the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Guiding and training these employees will certainly help to reduce the overwhelming number of Hospital-acquired Infections (HAI). Hospital-acquired infections (HAI) are a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Infections are commonly spread via the hands, so maintaining good hand hygiene habits is vital to prevent the spread of HAIs. Infection-control training can be provided to the personnel with the help of Scenario-based simulation training to hone good hand hygiene habits. Scenario-based training helps these habits become second nature, thus improving patient safety and the quality of care they receive. Find out how medical simulation is transforming education and training.

The infection gets transmitted with a source of infecting microorganisms, a susceptible host, and a means of transmission for the microorganism to the host.

A source of infection of Hospital-acquired Infections (HAI)

Often while offering healthcare facilities the patients are exposed to multiple microorganisms like viruses, bacteria, fungi, etc. They can be transmitted by another infected patient in the premises, contaminated medical equipment or devices, the hospital environment, health care workers, contaminated drugs, food and patient care equipment.

A Host to acquire Hospital-acquired Infections (HAI)

A susceptible host is an immunocompromised patient who is vulnerable to get infected. The factors that affect the condition could be age, underlying diseases, severe illness, immunosuppressive medications, surgical treatments.

The transmission of Hospital-acquired Infections (HAI)

Multiple intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors predispose patients to HAIs. The transmission of HAIs occurs through common routes like direct or indirect contact, respiratory droplets generated during coughing, sneezing, through airborne microorganisms, common carriers of the infection.

How to Prevent the Spread ?

Multiple factors influence the development of HAIs. Some of them are the acute illness of a patient and his overall health, the medical device/medicine usage for his treatment, some administrative variables like level of nurse education, the ratio of nurse to patients, etc.

To prevent the spread of HAIs, simulation training through scenario-based compliance can be practised.

  • Maintaining an ideal nurse to patient ratio in hospitals could reduce overcrowding and thus increase the adherence to hand hygiene.
  • Usage of alcohol-based waterless hand rubs to maintain hand hygiene.
  • Monitoring the compliance of hand hygiene and glove usage
  • Maintaining Environmental Cleanliness will reduce the probability of contamination.
  • Reduce occupational transmission of organisms from patient to health care worker through proper use of personal protective equipment
  • Post visual alerts instructing patients to notify respiratory infection. 
  • Evaluate using documentation of the use of sterile barriers, time of antibiotic prophylaxis, the fullness of needle disposal containers, etc.

How does Simulation Training help?

Simulation can be a useful tool to make the healthcare staff aware of the infection control protocols. Small scale scenarios can help with the compliance and control protocols.

This training helps health care workers to work on their knowledge base as well as its application. To know about the clinical skills lab setup and benefits, click here.

Medical campaign for Child this Year

SEM TRAINERS / / Covid-19

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