Medical Simulation-Based Training System for Rapid Trauma Skills Training

Military physicians are often deployed to remote locations and required to perform general and trauma surgical procedures required during wartime for which they may not have been specifically trained or for which their skills have degraded with time. The overall objective of our program is to improve the cognitive and psychomotor trauma skills of trauma-naïve general or subspecialty surgeons about to be deployed to combat zones. We propose to develop a short-term simulation based course using realistic physical models to prepare these surgeons for the operative management of major combat wounds. The proposed course is a new way of training trauma operative surgery skills based on a goal-directed curriculum, detailed instructional videos, operations on an artificial body and objective metrics to evaluate trainee performance. Operative Experience, Inc. (OEI) has developed a technology to produce surgical models based offer the type of realistic simulation necessary to train for open trauma surgery at a much lower cost and greater availability than cadavers and animals. These models allow the trainee to dissect with sharp or blunt techniques, encircle vessels, retract, suture and staple tissues.