Early experience with simulated trauma resuscitation

Although trauma resuscitation is best taught through direct exposure with hands-on experience, the opportunities for this type of teaching in Canada are limited by the relatively low incidence of serious injury and the consolidation of trauma care to a small number of centres. Simulators have been used extensively outside the health care environment and more recently have been used by anesthetists to simulate intraoperative crises. In this paper early experience using a realistic mannequin, controlled by a remote computer, that simulates a variety of physiologic and injury specific variables is presented. The resource implications of simulated resuscitation are reviewed, including one-time and operating costs. Simulated trauma resuscitation may be an educational alternative to "real-life" trauma resuscitation, but careful evaluation of the benefits and resource implications of this type of teaching through well-designed research studies will be important.