Anesthesia Simulators

[Molly Maquire]

Hi,

Has anyone ever used one of these simulators and how closely do they approximate the feeling of actually giving anesthesia to a patient?

It dosen't seem like there are too many of them around. I know Mt. Sinai in NYC has one, where I am considering doing a fourth year elective.

thanks.

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[JoshuaTree]

I did an away rotation at Mt Sinai. The simulator experience is pretty good. They take a lot of pride in it. It can tell how much drug your injecting, it has breath sounds, etc... A real pt. is not doing much anyways when their sleeping. I believe Wash U and the harvard programs have one also.

 

[supahfresh]

Northwestern and Rush have them. They're pretty realistic.

 

[hndrx1a]

University of Miami also has one, from what I've heard.

 

[2ndyear]

Other simulators from my interview trail, since overall there aren't that many in the country:

Penn State - The best that I saw, hands down. Multiple new dummies, even peds. Many opportunities to use them, even doing a simulator month in residency. Also had endoscopy and laparoscopy sims that apparently anesthesia residents train on as well. Also had full time simulator staff. Seems like they are really into simulator crisis management with full surgery and nursing teams.

URochester - Very nice set up as well. Full time simulator engineering staff and they use them a lot. More crisis management stuff as well.

Pitt- Didn't see them as they were in a different building, but I was told they were pretty darn nice.

Michigan - Said they had one, that's all I know.

Wayne State/DMC - Said they had a new one. Didn't see it.

U Conn -'Sim-Man'? I think it is a simpler kind of simulator. Maybe someone more in the know can comment, but at least it's something.

 

[UTSouthwestern]

We have one.

Realism depends on who is running the simulator.

 

[thegasman]

Florida has a pretty nice one, said they invented it and let us play with it a little too. Also Wake Forest had a nice lab too. MCV said they had one though I didn't see it and Kentucky had one they showed us but was broken. Seems like they could be useful to a point but I don't think I will use this in deciding my ranking.

 

[VentdependenT]

SLU, WashU, UIowa, UNmexico, Uwashington, Loyola all have em too. Residents seemed mixed on their usefulness. However, they do agree its nice to run a complex case on a dummy and learn not how to kill it...or how to kill it.

 

[gaslady]

Duke has one. It is used regularly to train all kinds of students and residents. Anesthesia residents at Duke use it during their initial orientation and then at least 4 times a year after that. There are opportunities to do independent study and create a case for the simulator. The simulator here is very realistic. It simulates pupil reflexes, pulses throughout the body, has chest movement, and breath sounds. The tongue and airway can swell. I put a needle in the chest the other day to relieve a tension pneumo and air actually came out. The physiologic response to drugs is quite realistic.

The thing about simulators is that just because a program has a simulator doesn't mean that they use it. The place I came from had one that was gathering dust and the anesthesia residents didn't even know where it was. If it is important to you, inquire about how the residents get out of the OR to use it.