Development and Review of the Chest Tube High-Feedback Educational Simulation Trainer (CHEST)

Emergency medicine physicians must receive training in chest tube placement. This life-saving skill must be completed quickly and competently to prevent morbidity and mortality. Training on live patients is no longer an appropriate or acceptable practice. Current training devices have been noted to be costly, may be difficult to store, or may require time-consuming cleanup or setup.

Fifteen Chest tube High-feedback Educational Simulation Trainers were created. Frames were made from wood and PVC, and soft tissue layers were designed using silicone and polyurethane foam. Nine training sites volunteered to test the model and provided feedback on the acceptability of the task trainer for skill training.

Survey findings demonstrated that the model was realistic for teaching, portable, and was easy to use and maintain. In our model, the outer skin was noted to tear easily, thus limiting its use for suture training. Overall programs reported that they would use this model if it was available for the same or lower cost than current models.

An inexpensive task trainer was created that was easy to store, quick to set up, durable, easy to clean, and rated as effective at training the skill of chest tube insertion.