Regional Anesthesia Simulator for Training of Resident and Staff Pain Management Specialists

Engaged American troops suffering injuries to the extremities are best treated with regional anesthesia, which renders only a portion of the body, such as a limb, insensate. However, it is possible for long-lasting damage to occur when regional anesthesia is improperly applied, and a training system is needed that teaches anesthesiologist all aspects of regional anesthesia application. The system must be accurate, intuitive, and convenient. Energid Technologies is proposing just such a training system. It includes instructional content in a standard, configurable framework and immersive simulation of procedures to reinforce the instructional content. An anesthesiologist will practice in a virtual environment--with visual, tactile, and auditory feedback--and validation of the content will be supported by surgeons at Massachusetts General Hospital. Since the trainer needs to be accessible to all applicable medical personnel (wherever they might be stationed), it will be small and compact. To create the proposed system, Energid will leverage existing medical simulation technology being developed for the Army and will develop a novel portable MR-based (magneto-rheological) haptic device appropriate for regional anesthesia simulation. The device will provide high fidelity force feedback for needle insertion and injection, and will be particularly beneficial to battlefield regional anesthesia training.