Evaluation of an Innovative Bleeding Cricothyrotomy Model

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Surgical Simulation
• Emergency Medicine Training

Background:

• Cricothyrotomy is a rare but critical emergency procedure.
• Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) guidelines mandate resident training in cricothyrotomy.
• Procedural competence requires high-fidelity simulation training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel 3D-printed cricothyrotomy trainer with innovative bleeding features.
• To assess the realism and effectiveness of the trainer in enhancing resident confidence and skill acquisition.
• To compare the novel trainer's performance against existing simulation models.

Main Methods:

• A 3D-printed cricothyrotomy trainer with bleeding tissue was developed using fused deposition modeling (FDM).
• Emergency medicine residents participated in a difficult airway educational lab utilizing the trainer.
• Anonymous surveys with visual analog scales (VAS) assessed trainer realism, comfort levels, and compared it to other models.

Main Results:

• The novel bleeding cricothyrotomy trainer received a mean realism rating of 3.81.
• Participants rated the bleeding trainer significantly higher (4.45) than other models.
• Resident comfort in performing the procedure improved post-training, with positive feedback on bleeding and skin texture realism.

Conclusions:

• The 3D-printed bleeding cricothyrotomy trainer demonstrates high fidelity and superiority over non-bleeding models.
• This advanced trainer offers an improved platform for teaching infrequent, critical airway procedures to emergency medicine residents.
• The trainer enhances resident confidence and provides a more realistic simulation experience.