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5 Reasons Why Simulation Training is Better | Healthcare

Shyam Gajrani / / Medical Simulation, Medicine, Nursing Education, Simulation-based Learning

The benefits of incorporating simulation training in teaching specific medical skills are manifold. But what are the 5 biggest advantages that make it a viable option that delivers superior results to using the traditional teaching paradigm alone? Let’s find out.

What is Simulation Training?

Simulation training is the process of reproducing realistic environments and situations (often with the use of lifelike simulators/manikins and trainers/medical skills) to create a hands-on learning experience for a learner to practice certain skills. Simulation has been adopted into various fields as a method of learning. For example, pilots first learn to fly a plane on a simulator. Today, it is an essential teaching tool in various industries like aviation, military, and healthcare.

5 Things that Make it Better than Traditional Learning

There are many more benefits to simulation learning other than the fact that it provides the opportunity for hands-on learning. Here are 5 reasons why it is effective (and better):

It provides a safe environment and avoids risk to real patients

While simulation provides an excellent hands-on learning opportunity (theoretical learning isn’t enough for some skills), it does so in a safe environment. This means that students can explore. That they are free to make mistakes and are given the chance to learn from their mistakes rather than being reprimanded for them or the mistakes translating into real-life blunders. This is a rather important attribute of the learning process- the privilege to be able to make mistakes and learn from them. And when students feel free to explore, they inarguably learn better. On top of that, it means that real patients will not be put at risk, as it is when learners practice on real patients- one mistake and a lot could go wrong. Plus, not everyone is comfortable with being attended by a fresher-simulation also helps avoid that.

It builds team skills (among many others)

Usually, in the real-life clinical setting, professionals don’t work alone. A whole team of individuals and a whole lot of work goes into saving lives. Individuals must work together to make the best decisions possible in time to save a patient’s life and deliver optimal treatment quality. Apart from building skills like decision-making skills and the ability to think on your feet, simulation in healthcare training helps build communication and collaboration skills and the ability to work in a team. It also helps with team leading, team building, and crisis resource management skills. People don’t just start working together if placed in the same room; the ability to work efficiently as part of a team is important.

It builds confidence AND improves the quality of patient care delivered

By bridging the gap between theory and practice, simulation training is able to instill a kind of confidence in learners that enables them to go ahead and deliver excellent quality care as they step into the profession. And confidence is also directly linked to competence. A confident professional will be able to smartly deal with any situation- like when interacting with patients or their families, or when there is a tough decision to make. So when learners start to develop confidence, it becomes easier for them to start taking their own decisions and operating by their own autonomy.

It provides real-time feedback

Not only does simulation training and medical skills bridge the gap between theory and practice, through the use of lifelike simulators and trainers with monitors that display real-time feedback, it is made easier to assess the student’s performance. But this isn’t useful for the instructor alone. It means that the student can evaluate his own performance as he works on the patient (manikin or trainer) and evolve to make better decisions during the process. This is a benefit that is not present with the traditional training method. It is one of the things that makes simulation training so effective in healthcare.

It gives learners an idea of what to expect

While a simulated environment is exciting and comfortable, it also prepares learners for what to expect in a real clinical setting. With high-fidelity simulation, there are some distractions as would be in a real hospital. There may be too much noise, a bad smell, or a number of other big and small disturbances that can easily distract someone working on a critical task and result in serious procedural errors. It can also worsen performance and increase the number of attempts and the amount of time taken to do something. Being exposed to such distractions at an early learning stage can accustom the learner to think on their feet and perform better despite said distractions, effectively preventing serious errors.

With such obvious benefits, simulation training greatly outweighs the performance benefits offered by traditional learning alone, and is an indispensable asset in healthcare education.

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Benefits of Virtual Reality Simulators in Medical Simulation Training

Shyam Gajrani / / Clinical Skills, Equipment, Medical Simulation, Medicine, Nursing Education, Simulation-based Learning

If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that no matter what life throws at us, we can keep going. While everyone switched to online learning, it was not possible to learn practical medical and surgical skills on a video call. So, we adopted Virtual Reality into simulation training for learning medical and surgical skills so students can still learn practical skills. But Virtual Reality simulators is much more.

What is Virtual Reality and How Does it Apply to Medical Training?

Simulation can be classified into physical, virtual reality, and hybrid. It has already proved to be a widely accepted success in training. It gives students the opportunity to practice procedures wherever they want, whenever they want to. Learners can practice repeatedly in a safe environment, with real-time feedback, and without the risk of causing harm to real patients. But what happens if we introduce virtual reality to simulation training? Let’s first understand what virtual reality is.

Virtual Reality is a computer-generated simulated, 3D environment that you can realistically interact with using special electronic equipment (like a headset with a screen inside or gloves with sensors). There are sensory stimuli present, and how you interact with it partially determines what will happen next. For example, if you wear VR glasses and play a certain game using that, you will feel like you are in the game. In fact, it can be so surreal that many get scared while playing a game with zombies or riding a roller coaster virtually. Through the use of various senses, it creates an immersive experience for you by putting you in scenarios where you are the actor and what you do determines what happens next in the environment.

Using this concept, diverse realistic scenarios can be created for training students in medical and surgical skills. In these scenarios, they enter 360° simulated environments where they experience various sights and sounds that help create a virtual reality.

Today, VR simulators are more realistic and affordable. And research has repeatedly proven the benefits of using VR in simulation training. Without enough hands-on training, students struggle with the development of some cognitive, technical, and socio-emotional skills. This was a problem even before the pandemic- it is hard to provide enough learning opportunities for the students to develop practical skills. VR has helped immensely with this as it allows repeated practice and helps create experiences that might not be so easily accessible(and which may be stressful or rare), and does it without risks or pressure, and without time or space limitations.

Simulating Real Life with Virtual Reality Training

Using virtual reality to train learners on technical skills lets them feel the stress of a real-life scenario without the risks of the real one. And it helps them develop the skills through repeated hands-on practice. Not only are the scenarios realistic, some of them portray some of the not-so-common clinical scenarios where learners are bound to make mistakes. This helps them deal with such situations when they happen in real life.

Simulating a Multiplayer Scenario

Using virtual reality, we can prepare a multiplayer scenario, allowing learners to collaborate and work a case as a team. It lets them interact with each other the way they would do if it was real life. They can identify who gathered which kind of data (like vital signs, physical exam results, case history, and point-of-care testing), and can identify gaps in that data and fill in the blanks. They can delegate responsibilities. Virtual reality training also allows room for interprofessional simulation like by allowing learners from nursing and case management to communicate and collaborate.

Benefits of Virtual Reality Training

There’s a whole myriad of benefits offered by using VR simulation for training:

  • Realistic learning environments that can be reproduced
  • Repeated hands-on training
  • Diverse scenarios (even those that can’t be created otherwise)
  • Gamification of learning
  • Performance feedback
  • Continuous peer interaction

And this leads to:

  • Better student motivation and presence
  • Active learning
  • Improved decision-making abilities
  • Improved critical thinking abilities
  • Better communication skills
  • Helps them identify their strengths and weaknesses
  • Overall, it leads to better learning and dexterity in the technical skills

Also, virtual reality simulators usually come with an in-built objective evaluation system to track and provide feedback about a learner’s performance after each procedure. This gives various parameters like the time, bleeding, bleeding volume, injuries caused, and a pass or fail remark.

It is evident that incorporating virtual reality into simulation training is capable of delivering better results than using traditional training methods. Virtual reality simulators offer a range of benefits from providing learners with a platform where they can engage in repeated hands-on training to creating scenarios that would not be possible otherwise.

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How Simulation-based Learning is Revolutionizing Nursing Education

Simulation in Echocardiography: Can it Fill the Demand?

Shyam Gajrani / / Medical Simulation, Nursing Education, Simulation-based Learning

Echocardiography, which is the use of ultrasound waves to observe the action of the heart, is known to be notoriously difficult to learn and requires extensive training to master. Can simulation in echocardiography be the answer to the growing demand?

Echocardiography needs a lot of skill to master

Today, cardiovascular diseases are one of the most common causes of death around the globe. And as they become more prevalent, the demand for diagnosis also increases. Since echocardiography is an affordable, non-invasive imaging technique that delivers immediate results, it is of importance to see how we can improve the learning process for aspiring learners. But it is difficult to learn.

Apart from being technically competent and practically skilled in what they do, echocardiographers need to understand:

  • The physics behind the modalities
  • Sufficient knowledge of the anatomy
  • The physiology and pathology of the heart

It is hard enough to handle the transducer and connect it to the heart’s anatomy, but they need to understand the basics of ultrasound physics and extract and assess information of the 3D heart from a 2D image.

Challenges to Learning Echocardiography

A 2019 study by Dieden, Carlson, and Gudmundsson discovered the main challenges to learning echocardiography, and the things that could aid the learning. Students found the main challenges to be:

  • The projections: It can be a sizeable task to steer the transducer and obtain a projection, and then make sense of it. And it can be hard for the students to link the projections to where in the heart the ultrasound beam cut.
  • Handling the probe: It can be hard for learners to figure out where to place, angle, and turn the transducer for some projections. They can be clueless about how to position and turn the transducer if they never have any practice.
  • Connecting ultrasound physics and measurements to practical application: Students can find it difficult to link the theory of ultrasound physics to practical performance with the machine.

Things That Help Students Learn Better

The study mentioned above also stated 5 things that would improve learning:

  • Immediate feedback: Real-time feedback and correction from instructors and the screens on the task trainers can improve the learning process; like if the screen can tell them whether they have placed the transducer correctly
  • Playing with the ultrasound machine: it allows learners to use the machine firsthand where no button is off-limits and nothing can go wrong
  • Video lectures
  • The possibility to swiftly alternate between practice and theory: while getting hands-on experience with the ultrasound machine helps learners practice what they just learned, it also helps them understand when and how to apply some concepts and measurements in the clinical setting
  • Learning by their mistakes in a risk-free environment without serious consequences: Students learn to accept that making mistakes is a positive part of the learning process and can make them better at the task

It is interesting to see that 4 out of the 5 things mentioned above can be achieved with the help of manikins and simulators. Using a manikin helps students learn echocardiography in a way that lets them truly understand the fundamentals behind what they are learning, and can even help learners link the anatomy of the heart, placing the probe, and the location of the beam. Echocardiographic simulation can aid traditional training strategies and improve their efficiency.

It can be hard to get real heart patients for learners to operate on. Additionally, if they do learn by operating on real patients, it can make the patients uncomfortable, put them at risk, and breach their privacy. And it can be hard for teachers to explain concepts to learners while managing the needs of a live patient.

It is well-known how simulators allow repeated practice of diverse scenarios ranging from high-risk to rare, and have been adopted into medical and surgical training. Numerous studies have proved that using simulations and mannequins for learning echocardiography is largely beneficial.

By incorporating simulation in echocardiography, learners profit by shorter learning times(by accelerating the learning process), better outcomes, and lower complication rates. They learn to manipulate the transducer better and angulate it to the skin safely, and comprehend the projections easily. Finally, incorporating simulation in echocardiography helps produce competency.

Read more blog :

Top 10 Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) Medical Simulators You’ll Need | SEM Trainers

How Simulation-based Learning is Revolutionizing Nursing Education

Shyam Gajrani / / Clinical Skills, Equipment, Medical Simulation, Medicine, Nursing Education, Simulation-based Learning

Nurses are the heart of healthcare. With that in mind, it is intriguing to discuss the benefits of a simulation-led approach to nursing education.

Through the inclusion of role-playing, devices, trained persons, trainers, environments, and lifelike manikins, promoting learning and eliminating risk for the trained and the novice alike, simulation-led learning creates the perfect opportunity for learners to acquire necessary nursing skills in a safe environment. This also offers the added advantage of building critical decision-making skills by simulating various real-life scenarios. Affected slightly by the level of fidelity, simulation-based learning for nursing education can have a range of benefits.

  1. Hands-on Learning

While it is detailed and complete, theoretical learning can quickly become boring for a group of learners eager to become skilled professionals. Simulation-based learning solves this problem. Not only does it provide learners a way to learn specific skills by actually practicing them, it lets them do so in a safe environment.

  1. Immediate Feedback

A multitude of simulators is designed to provide real-time feedback for the learner’s performance (often through a screen or through lifelike response to stimuli). This feedback can then be used to further improve a learner’s prowess in specific skills. And it all happens in a safe environment, successfully avoiding the risk of causing harm or inconvenience to real patients. Additionally, people learn better when they aren’t afraid of making mistakes.

  1. Learning through Repetitive Practice

Practice makes perfect. Besides, with something as important as nursing, repeated practice builds skill, instills confidence, clarifies the fundamentals, and prepares the learner for stepping into a real clinical setting.

  1. Building of Important Skills

    Simulation allows learners the opportunity to practice caring for patients in ways that they cannot in the real-life hospital setting. Through several studies, it has been found that simulation-based learning for nursing education has a positive impact on knowledge acquisition, psychomotor skills, self-efficacy, satisfaction, confidence, critical thinking skills, and communication skills. It does all that within a safety net.

From mass casualty and wound care to mental health and end-of-life care, nursing skills education benefits from the adoption of a simulation-based approach to learning.

Benefits of a Simulation-Based Approach to Nursing Education

Teaching nursing skills through simulation involves a lot of role-playing and playing out realistic scenarios using actors and manikins. A student can pretend to be a patient, a nurse, a healthcare assistant, a manager, a student, a doctor, or even an angry relative. Imagine that as a student, you are pretending to be a nurse tending to three patients and receiving a call from the relatives of one of them. Think about what skills you would take home from that experience. No matter what scenario plays out, the result is improved patient care skills for everyone involved in the scenario. Simulation-based training is effective at bringing on the following changes in learners:

  • The ability to think on their feet
  • Refined communication and management skills
  • Acute decision-making skills
  • Confidence in their nursing abilities
  • The ability to work under pressure
  • Improved knowledge of nursing skills
  • Visibly improved technical skills
  • Stronger leadership skills
  • Developed self-confidence and attitude/aptitude for nursing
  • Students are exposed to rare clinical situations
  • Students are able to practice clinical reasoning skills

Other Miscellaneous Benefits

Other than the obvious benefits to the learning process and the learner, there are some other benefits to the nursing education system as a whole:

  • Enhanced patient safety and quality
  • Learners can manage patients without posing risk to actual humans
  • Controlled and safe learning environment
  • Structured feedback
  • Faster time to competence
  • Fills the gap in faculty/clinical site resources

Additionally, simulation-based nursing-skills training avoids inefficiency due to the following during training:

  • Feeling awkward for getting in the way of nurses’ work
  • Getting flustered by an unexpected situation or care instruction
  • Experiencing difficulty in adapting to training because many parts were not covered in school

It can safely be said that a simulation-based approach to nursing skills training lays the foundation for a student-centred learning paradigm. So owing to the array of benefits that it brings with itself, simulation-led training has secured its place in nursing skills training as an indispensable asset. And with further advancements in the technology, it may open up newer horizons of learning in nursing and other aspects of healthcare.

Simulators from SEM Trainers

If you’re looking to purchase medical simulators for the purpose of nursing skills training, your search ends here, because SEM Trainers is the #1 provider of premium-quality simulation products sourced from Germany, USA, Japan, and Europe.

5 Key Challenges in Medical Simulation Training

Shyam Gajrani / / Uncategorized

The application of simulation in medical training has revolutionized how we approach healthcare and how we train our future doctors. It provides learners with a safe environment to get some hands-on practice. It spares real patients the discomfort of being attended by freshers. Simulation in medical training also creates better doctors and medics, furthering the stance and quality of healthcare in the world.

medical simulation model

But like everything else, medical simulation training comes with its own challenges. Today, we will talk about the 5 most common challenges faced by technicians in medical simulation.

Insufficient psychological fidelity/ realism

The whole purpose of simulation-led training is to provide learners with a realistic scenario so that they can learn better and afford to make mistakes in a safe environment. If they can’t perceive the simulation to be a believable environment, it might not be as effective. When we use realistic manikins and set up realistic scenarios that replicate the nuances of the real process, not only do students learn better, they develop critical decision-making and ad-hoc skills. Realism helps learners take it more seriously.

Cost

Better learning comes at a cost. A major roadblock in implementing simulation-led medical training is the expense of it all. Medical manikins and simulators are expensive. You also need to compensate the actors (depending on the kind of simulation you are going for). And then there are the expenses for the buildings, equipment, furniture, salaries, consumables, refreshment, allowances, transportation, electricity, laundry, course design, and many more resources. So while simulation-led training has proved to be more effective than conventional methods, when it comes to the fidelity-cost trade-off, you need to make the choice.

Lack of trained instructors

A simulation-led training program is only as effective as the instructor. The lack of trained instructors able to teach through simulation is another roadblock to training medical aspirants through simulation. A good instructor will be able to utilize the potential of simulation-based training to teach important skils, and build various soft skills like communication, decision-making, and critical thinking skills. He will also be able to employ effective debriefing techniques to provide immediate feedback and encourage learning.

Building team skills

There are some things you only learn by working in a team. Because simulation training focuses on building individual skills, it misses out on the fact that in the real world, doctors won’t be working on a patient alone- they will need team skills. They will need to get along and communicate effectively, appreciating the contribution of the rest of the team.

Keeping it interesting

Debriefing is often seen as the most important part of simulation-led medical training. However, focussing largely on assessment can quickly turn a possibility for a hands-on, safe learning experience with opportunity for genuine inquiry into a dreaded responsibility that learners need to get out of the way. To a learner, simulation-led training is supposed to be a risk-free learning environment. And even though a situation may be risk-free to a patient, a learner is still exposing his lack of knowledge and experience to his instructors and his peers. By laying out the rationale, ground rules, parameters, and risk beforehand, an instructor can minimize performance stress and make this process easier on the learner, allowing the simulation to fulfil its purpose- that of better learning.

These challenges, among others, might just be why simulation healthcare training isn’t as widely accepted yet. When all the different challenges of simulation-led medical training are addressed, the results can be astonishing.

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

SEM TRAINERS / / Uncategorized

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.

The Role of Fidelity in Simulation Training

Shyam Gajrani / / Medical Simulation

Fidelity comes from the Latin word fidēlis, meaning faithful or loyal. Generally speaking, fidelity is the degree of exactness with which something is copied or reproduced.

What is Fidelity in Simulation Training?

We have always emphasized on the role and benefits of using simulation for training aspiring doctors and nurses. Simulators are devices that imitate the real-life medical environment, but in a safe way, so learners can practice with real-time feedback but without the risks involved.

In simulation, fidelity is a term that denotes the degree to which the simulator replicates reality. Simply speaking, it is how well the simulator is able to imitate a real-life medical environment, or how close it gets to a real scenario. So, a simulator that depicts a real scenario really well would be termed “high-fidelity”, and one that does not so much, “low-fidelity”. A low-fidelity simulation is less realistic than a high-fidelity one.

Levels of Fidelity in Simulation

In 1990, Miller sketched out a pyramid depicting how a person’s actions are built upon his knowledge, competence, and performance. An increased level of fidelity in simulation may correspond to a transformation from knowledge to competence, performance, and ultimately, action. 

Miller's Pyramid

We observe the following levels of fidelity in simulation:

  • Low-Fidelity Simulation: This level of simulation helps build knowledge. This may not be very realistic, but it takes away the stress of the situation and lets the learner focus on learning the skill. Take static models and 2D displays for example.
  • Mid-Fidelity Simulation: This one is a bit more realistic and helps build competence in the learner. Take, for example, full-body manikins that imitate real heart and breathing sounds. Learners can use these to train on procedures like IV insertions, injections, and NG tube insertions.
  • High-Fidelity Simulation: These are the most realistic simulations- the closest to real life. Take, for example, full-body computerized manikins that can talk and run pre-programmed scenarios.

Types of Fidelity in Simulation

Fidelity can be physical, psychological, and conceptual. Physical fidelity can be perceived by the senses. If your manikin’s skin feels like real skin, and body parts react and bleed like they would on a real patient, it increases the degree of physical fidelity. Task-trainers, or lifelike manikin simulators representing a part of the body can help train on specific skills and focus on functional fidelity. And when they allow haptic feedback, that increases the degree of physical fidelity. Moulage, or applying makeup to mock injury, can engage learners’ sensory perceptions.

If you introduce some realistic background noises to the simulated setting, you will increase the physical fidelity, consequently also increasing the psychological fidelity as it elicits an emotional response from the learner and raises stress levels. If all aspects of your simulated scenario accurately represent how they would be in a real scenario, such that it makes sense to the learner, you have high conceptual fidelity.

Beyond the three major classifications, fidelity may also be classified as functional fidelity, which is the dynamic interaction between the learner and the task at hand, and sociological fidelity, which is how the interactions between the participants affect the level of realism.

So What Degree of Fidelity Do We Really Need?

Ideally, we want all simulators to be high-fidelity, but limited procurement budgets make that hard to achieve. So, often, we must settle for a trade-off between the degree of fidelity and the cost of procurement, or “mid-fidelity”. In high-stress environments, the costs may be monetary as well as loss of human life. We will discuss various scenarios ahead in the discourse.

Scenarios to Imagine

Imagine this. A well-established gaming company comes up with an exciting idea for a new game, and the developers must build it soon. A high-fidelity videogame would be meticulous with the graphics, the gameplay, and the story. A game that would manage to ignore even one of these aspects could fail to create an immersive, realistic gaming experience. This would result in a failure of the game to launch successfully, and possibly cost the company millions of dollars, along with ruining its reputation. Here, the cost would be monetary.

In the application of aircraft or driving simulation, higher fidelity would be required. Poor training and poor decisions made under high-stress, emergency situations in real-life could result in fatal outcomes. In emergency situations on an actual plane, you would expect your pilots to make the right decisions at the right time regardless of the immense stress of an urgent, unfamiliar situation. This cannot be made possible without training in high-fidelity simulation.

If we take the military for example, soldiers may be trained for combat in a high-fidelity simulation. Such training must prepare the soldier for making resource-aware decisions and train them in dealing with a variety of unexpected situations. Training for this in low-fidelity simulations may not prepare a soldier for combat, but create the illusion of competence.

Ultimately, the degree of fidelity exercised in simulation can impact the levels of confidence and anxiety. If learners practice in low-fidelity environments, they might incorrectly assume confidence. Being met with unexpected developments in-field can render a state of disillusionment and disbelief in the training, revealing that they were, in fact, unprepared, and further leading to possibly catastrophic consequences.

However, it is also true that learners and educators are biased towards HFS (High-Fidelity Simulation), and that higher levels of fidelity may increase the cognitive load on the learner to the point of overwhelming him, effectively decreasing learning. Maybe beginners would be better off starting with low-fidelity simulation and then move up as they gain experience. Low-fidelity simulation may also be preferred when training on skills that call for repeated practice.

For More Detailed Information Contact Us on sem@semtrainers.com or +91-88495 63724 .

EMS Simulation Training for Clinical Skills Lab | 16 Best Simulators to Get

Shyam Gajrani / / Clinical Skills, Medical Simulation

An opportunity for simulation of clinical experience with life-saving Emergency Medical Services (EMS) can be provided to Medical Students. In EMS Simulation Training for clinical skills lab, the EMS simulators imitate high-stress emergency scenarios for education and training purposes where students can practice procedures and treatments realistically, but without the risks.

Benefits of EMS Simulators

Concisely, EMS simulators are medical simulation devices that mimic real medical environments and situations so that learners can experience the demands of a real hospital environment in a safe environment. Learners can afford to make mistakes and receive feedback. Simulators are used so that students can gain experience before stepping out into the real-world, and so that we can avoid risks to the lives of real patients from being operated on by inexperienced students. This also helps avoid inconvenience to real patients. Such hands-on learning helps students make the transition from theory to practice. Other than training, EMS Simulators are being used for assessment and evaluation, which can be a closing part of coursework. These simulators also come in handy with system integration and improvement. Furthermore, they are being used to assist health-system and facility research efforts.

SEM Trainers & Systems  provide some of the best professional-quality medical products that you can use:

1. Simulated Patient Monitor – REALITi Go

This is an ALS patient monitor simulator for paramedic and HEMS training in Advanced Life Support. This monitor is a great tool for students to learn and train on a realistic platform with a simulated monitor, 5 generic patient monitor screens, defibrillator, AED, and ventilator.

2. Simulated Patient Monitor with Debriefing & CPR Feedback – REALITi Pro

This is an advanced vital sign simulation system that you can use to run multiple scenarios anywhere- even in an ambulance or a helicopter. It comes with 5 simulated proprietary patient monitor screens for training on vital signs. It has live video streaming, CPR feedback, and simulated patient records. It looks, sounds, and functions like a real patient monitor.

3. SMART STAT Complete

This manikin offers simplicity of operation in a highly advanced trainer. It is a great add-on to your list of EMS Simulators. It can be used for physician training, nursing school training, hospital and clinic training programs, paramedic training, military battle field training, disaster response training, and a multitude of other medical training applications.

  • Only high fidelity manikin that is operated with an iPad!
  • Full-body, adult manikin
  • Trains students in EMS, nursing, and trauma skills
  • Provides experience with cardiac and medical disease care
  • Anatomical landmarks
  • Mobile and wireless
  • Rechargeable
  • No external programs or equipment necessary
  • This simulator can function in the lab and in the field ascertaining diagnostic ability. Student performances records can be transferred to a computer, and chronological scenario event logs can be printed.
  • Durable and can be placed in different indoor and outdoor environments
  • Can be used with Microsoft Windows
  • Has an on-board air compressor, and includes iPad® programming, storage for students’ performances, spontaneous breathing, pulses, blood pressure, carotid and femoral pulses, normal and emergent heart and lung sounds, 12 pulse points synchronized with the heart, EKG interpretation and cardiac treatment, IV and drug therapy, tension pneumothorax treatment, chest tube insertion with simulated drainage, and advanced difficult airway maintenance

4. Deluxe Child CRiSis™ with Advanced Airway Management

This is a resuscitation system for teaching life-saving techniques for children, with PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) training capabilities. With all skill stations available, it simulates a 5 year old. It has airway management, intraosseous infusion, blood pressure arm, CPR, IV arm, defibrillation chest, and femoral access.

5. STAT Baby Advanced

This baby simulator includes all physiological features of a baby and helps develop student assessment skills by managing student information, creating scenarios, and tracking sessions for review and debriefing. This simulator in the list of EMS Simulators , satisfies every training need for post-neonatal care of pediatric patients.

6. Chest Drain Simulator

The torso presents as a patient lying on his back with

  • Surgical access is lateral to the pectoralis major
  • The arm has been removed for easier access and extended for anatomical relevance
  • The ribs can be clearly felt below the surface of the skin
  • Trainees can make an incision through the fleshy part, surgically dividing the tissue with blunt forceps until the plural cavity is clearly felt by finger insertion
  • Complete finger rotation is possible, allowing the trainee to ensure that there are no obstructions before a drainage system can be introduced
  • The popping effect of passing through the pleura is realistic and a unique feature
  • A drain can be securely sutured into position onto this simulated flesh

7. Cricothyrotomy Simulator

The newly designed Life/form® Cricothyrotomy Simulator has been developed for learning and practicing the techniques necessary to perform needle or surgical cricothyrotomy procedures. Paramedics, EMTs, combat medics, flight nurses, anesthesiologists, and other emergency medical personnel will have the opportunity to strengthen their ability and confidence to perform or assist in implementing surgical airways.

8. Life/form® Pericardiocentesis Simulator – Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS)

This simulator is perfect for training for pericardiocentesis, and includes fluid reservoir bag, foot pump, surgical skin pads, subcutaneous surgical pads, nurse training pads, pneumothorax pads, blood powder, simulated pericardium, IV bag and a hard carry case.

9. Pneumothorax Training Manikin

Recommended by EMT (Emergency Medical Training) instructors, this model permits instruction of the delicate procedure for successfully managing chest wounds in which a collapsed lung interferes with the victim’s respiration and blood flow.

The model accepts needle and thoracotomy in the second intercostal space, in the mid-clavicular line, the fifth intercostal space in the mid-axillary line. A realistic training aid to practice proper needle insertion which enables built-up air pressure to escape the thorax.

10. Truman Trauma-X | Trauma Manikin | ATLS | Airway Management & Resuscitation Skills

The Truman Trauma System offers an anatomically correct simulated human torso designed for trainees to practice several surgical procedures together with the renowned AirSim head for training the full range of airway management and resuscitation skills. The Truman Trauma System also allows the use of replaceable tissue sets that allow each learner a life-like & unique surgical experience.

Skill Development:

  • Chest tube insertion: recognition of correct position, surgical incision, blunt dissection through chest wall, perforation of pleura, and finger sweep
  • Needle Decompression of tension pneumothorax
  • Cardio Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR)
  • Needle and Surgical Cricothyroidotomy
  • Airway Management Skills including OP and NP airway tube insertion, tracheal intubation, bag valve mask techniques, supraglottic airway insertion and ventilation
  • Percutaneous Tracheostomy
  • Identification of tracheal deviation and jugular vein distension which are warning signs attributed to tension pneumothorax

11. Advanced Casualty Simulation Kit

This simulation kit helps train bandaging and patient care skills for more complex wounds. It has an open amputation, a compound fracture of humerus, a compound fracture of tibia, a sucking wound of chest, and a gunshot wound of palm, along with 24 stick-on lacerations and open fracture wounds. It also comes with makeup accessories.

12. Emergency Medical Treatment (EMT) Casualty Simulation Kit

This simulation kit simulates disasters like bus accidents and building explosions, and attempts to address a wide variety of training situations. It includes wounds, fractures, lacerations, amputations, burns, makeup accessories, and even blood powder for simulated blood!

13. AED Trainer Plus 2

This trainer simulates shock delivery (without high voltages) to familiarize responders with AED devices, and has 10 training scenarios to simulate sudden cardiac arrests.

14. Basic Life Support Simulator with Feedback

This high quality and economical AHA compliant BLS manikin is a complete solution to train, monitor, analyse and debrief CPR performances. The manikin connects with the app using a strong and reliable Bluetooth connection – no need to set up a wireless network.

The Instructor App provides a detailed performance review of up to six manikins at a time while the Student App enables trainees to directly see and monitor their CPR performance in real-time.

The CPR apps provide feedback for:

  • Compression (depth, recoil, and rate)
  • Breath (volume)
  • Hands-off time in real-time
  • Feedback and evaluation meet the standard of the latest guidelines of the American Heart Association (AHA) and the European Resuscitation Council (ERC).

15. CPR CPRLilly PRO+

The new Quality CPR training manikin offered by 3B Scientific enables instructors and healthcare providers to measure, monitor and analyze the CPR performance of up to 10 trainees at a time. CPRLilly Pro+ helps instructors increase effectiveness and efficiency in their CPR courses by connecting with the free CPRLilly App on tablet to follow the CPR performance and deliver objective feedback leading to Quality CPR training (App available on Apple and Google play). It also enables trainees to see and monitor their own performance in real-time with the student view of the App. LED lights located directly on manikin’s neck provide direct CPR feedback and indicate correct compressions parameters (depth, release and rate).

16. SAM II® Student Auscultation Manikin

Auscultation is an essential clinical skill needed to assess and monitor patients’ conditions. With the Cardionics SAM II Student Auscultation Manikin, teaching and learning this skill becomes even more versatile and economic. The SAM II trainer can be used with any stethoscope. All sounds and videos are recorded from live patients for students to experience a life-like simulation. Users can also create and save their own case videos.

SAM II Student Auscultation Manikin is used in teaching and learning heart, lung and bowel sounds. When connected to the laptop (included) with the pre-installed software, a variety of sounds, videos and lessons recorded can be accessed.

Importance of Medical Simulation During COVID-19 Pandemic

Shyam Gajrani / / Uncategorized

With this article, we will explain medical simulation and its role in medical education and training and the importance of simulation for enhancing the hospital responses to the COVID-19 crisis.

Simulation has great importance in assisting the management of global COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and also in similar future pandemics. Simulation can speedily facilitate hospital preparation and education of a number of healthcare workers and students of different backgrounds and has justified its value in many settings. It can be used to scale-up the manpower capacity from experiential learning. Simulation and simulation facilitators can also work for the optimisation of work structures and processes.

The medical simulation presents many essential strategies for detailed and practical training and patient care with enhanced safety. It is a technique, rather than just a technology that helps to encourage experiential and reflective learning. It is an essential strategy to train crisis resource management skills.

Simulation can help the individual learner, the multidisciplinary team, and the complete hospital.

Importance of Medical Simulation in COVID-19 Pandemic

Doctors are found lacking in the implementation of clinical skills, problem-solving and execution of information to patient care specifically in emergency situations despite having sufficient basic knowledge. To solve this, medical teaching and training was transformed to a system-based core curriculum with learning objectives focussing on cognitive, psychomotor and affective domains.

The motive was to generate an efficient, predetermined alteration in behaviour, acquired skills in the trainee with a focus towards problem-based learning. But, these domains cannot be taught on real patients in uncertain and critical situations.

The COVID-19 pandemic is an opportunity for simulation to utilize its strengths. The clinical care segment is sensitive to errors and stakes are pretty high if any error occurs. The pandemic comes with a higher risk for healthcare workers, that increases the chances of spreading the infection and getting infected.

Medical practice with simulation can decrease the cognitive load of the workers involved in the patient care, thus reducing the severity of error at times of pressure and exhaustion.

The rapid spread of COVID-19 and its pressure on the resources needs a synchronised action in different areas of the healthcare system involving staffing, bed management, equipment supply chains, nursing and medical treatment, diagnostic capabilities, infection control and hygiene skills compliance. With respect to equipment and human resources, the demand surpasses what is available in most of the present healthcare systems. Therefore, we need smart and efficient ways of increasing and training a workforce, locating and supplying equipment, and improving the work systems and processes.

Simulation can play an important role in solving these issues and simulation trainers mostly have valuable skills to complete the essential analytical work needed to fulfil the needs, content, and methods for implementing the effective interventions. Considering the current situation, proper analysis of learning requirements and simulation focus points are crucial, so that processes are followed properly and there is efficient utilization of resources for promoting effective patient care.

The use of manikins during medical simulation allows healthcare professionals to practice and perfect their technique without the fear of causing harm to a real patient. These manikins can be programmed to simulate a variety of scenarios, including COVID-19 patients, allowing healthcare professionals to develop their skills and improve their confidence in treating patients with the virus. Manikins can also simulate various medical conditions, which can help healthcare professionals understand the different presentations of COVID-19 and provide appropriate treatment.

Utilization of Simulation in Real-world Scenario

At the time of previous epidemics, the simulation was properly utilized for healthcare systems and processes. For instance, simulation-based training determined loopholes in the safety protocols at hospitals that were supposed to be prepared for Ebola management. Following the period of SARS, simulation-based airway management and cardiac arrest training programs were popularly acquired to enhance the hard and soft skills of the healthcare workers involved in patient care with highly transmissible diseases.

Presently, national and international healthcare institutions are sharing and frequently updating their simulation-based experiences. In addition, variable simulation governing bodies are delivering consistently updated lists of simulation resources.

The best example is the Toronto simulation-based multi-disciplinary scenario created by the emergency department for efficient management of suspected COVID-19 cases suffering from respiratory problems. The prince of Wales Hospital organised an in situ simulation at the ICUs and operating theaters to make their employees familiarize with the airway management principles in suspected or confirmed COVID-19 infections.

We explained medical simulation, its importance in COVID-19 pandemic and the present scenario with simulation-based training. If you have any queries, ask in the comment section below.

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