Trauma Teams Taught by Computerized Manikins

A study has demonstrated that use of computerized "smart” manikins as simulated accident and injury victims helps doctors to teach and evaluate the performance of critical care trauma teams. The study was presented at the 2001 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons in New Orleans (LA, USA).

The study evaluated 10 three-person resuscitation trauma teams before and after they underwent a 28-day trauma rotation. Teams were tested on their ability to resuscitate the Human Patient Simulator, programmed to represent a severely injured multiple trauma patient. The manikin simulated a trauma patient who had an injury severity score of 39, which in an actual treatment situation results in a mortality rate of 50%. The teams were judged on scored tasks, such as the restoration of breathing and circulation in the manikin and the effectiveness of communication among team members. They were also scored on eight time-sensitive activities, such as placing chest tubes and applying a tourniquet to a bleeding extremity. The study showed that all 10 teams improved significantly in all of the scored tasks and in six of the eight timed activities.

The Human Patient Simulator was developed by Medical Education Technoloiges, Inc. (METI, Sarasota, FL, USA). The study was conducted by Dr. John Holcomb, director of the U.S. Army's Joint Trauma Training Center at Ben Taub General Hospital (Houston, TX, USA). "I predict that using simulation technology will be the way we teach and test medical and nursing students in the future, before we release them to treat patients,” said Dr. Holcomb.




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