MedSim Advanced Medical Simulation was founded by experts in the field of aviation simulation technology, medicine and education. MedSim is focused on the development of systems that enable healthcare professionals to expand their medical knowledge, improve their diagnostic skills, and advance their level of clinical performance.
MedSim's Mission is to become the standard in providing simulation solutions for medical training and assessment; to provide the medical industry with the simulation products and services to meet the outsourcing needs for development, preservation and evaluation of medical skills and competency. Medical skills and competency are fundamental concerns for the providers, payers, insurers, certification bodies, and most importantly, consumers of healthcare services. Acquiring medical skills and demonstrating competencies are becoming more critical in today's Managed Care, cost-driven, and litigious medical environment. MedSim is already a leader in the development and marketing of medical simulators, as well as in providing training and certification services utilizing its simulators. MedSim has more than 150 installations of its Commercial Simulator - The UltraSim - which are located in prestigious teaching centers such as: Thomas Jefferson University, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, The Mayo Clinic, Indiana University and various Military institutions.
MedSim is leading a new
wave of medical simulation using advanced hardware and software. The company has developed
a multi-national program of computer research for simulation technology. This program
incorporates medical expertise and educational experience into state-of-the-art simulation
platforms.
For more information on the design and use of simulation for medical training, please
look at the following sections below:
Development of the UltraSim® ultrasound simulator
MedSim's ultrasound simulator - the UltraSim® represents a major breakthrough for sonography education. The simulator gives physicians and sonographers realistic hands-on ultrasound scanning experience without the need for live patients. The UltraSim® simulates the functions of conventional ultrasound machines. It provides trainees with a variety of normal and abnormal cases.
The UltraSim® provides the trainees with:
Patient history
Standard ultrasound equipment settings, controls, and functions
The ability to identify and examine different anatomic areas
Review other, expert findings
The UltraSim
® provides the instructors the ability to:Directly measure and monitor student skills and progress
Provide focused critique during practice sessions
Identify student weaknesses during controlled laboratory sessions
Perform skill assessment
Avoid embarrassing or upsetting bedside errors
Fundamental research into the use of simulation for training
The four articles collected here discuss the educational applications of simulation technology and the commercial viability of developing educational programs with simulation training. Dr. Gary Meller has been associated with MedSim since its inception. The articles can be viewed directly as HTML files, or downloaded as Word 6.0/95-formatted documents.
Use of the UltraSim® training simulator in sonography education
excerpts from material by Beth Anderhub, M.Ed., RT, CNMRT, RDMS, Associate Professor/Program Director of the Diagnostic Medical Sonography Program at St. Louis Community College
Advantage and Limitations of Simulation
The primary advantage of a simulator in the medical profession focuses on the development of basic skills in a less stressful, controlled environment where the student does not have to be concerned about dealing with real patients and the stress of performing examinations in standard time periods. Mistakes can be corrected without the negative consequences associated with real examinations.
However, there a re a number of limitations related to to simulation that the instructor must always keep in mind. First, simulation does not completely replace clinical experience. The use of the simulator can enhance student learning and his or her rate of gaining clinical competency. The primary goals are to develop and evaluate student scan plane orientation, normal and abnormal pattern recognition, problem solving skills and the ability to perform a complete examination protocol. The clinical portion of the student's education must reinforce simulator time, and the educator should document skill transfer to the actual clinical examination.
A second limitation of the simulator relates to how closely the simulator mimics the real situation. The UltraSim® emulates standard sonographic equipment. However, there is a finite amount of data in each case. The scanning windows and angles are limited in comparison to a real, clinical examination. The instructor and student may find themselves striving for an even better image, but that "perfect" image is beyond the capabilities of the stored data!
One must also remember that the data is derived from real patients, and therefore, not all of the anatomy will visualize as perfect "textbook" examples. Although this fact may be considered a limitation of the UltraSim®, in a sense this replicates the actual clinical situation, and the students quickly realize how few of their patients resemble the optimal anatomy that they have been taught to look for.
Instructional Strategies
The basic foundations of competency-based education hold true for the use of a simulator. The specific educational theory utilized for the development of the UltraSim® is Robert Gagne's educational hierarchy. Students must master the required background knowledge before they can be expected to demonstrate related skills on the simulator. Progression of skills should proceed from the most simple to the most complex.
The student must practice the skills under supervision until the instructor determines that the student is ready for formal evaluation. The educator then conveys the student's competency to the clinical instructor, who should then expand the the student's access and role in performing real examinations. After gaining experience with several real examinations, the student can undergo formal evaluation to verify clinical competency.
Basic Curriculum for the UltraSim®
Each UltraSim® educational module consists of two case classifications - Curriculum and Practice. In each classification there are both normal and pathology examinations. Each case is organized around a task list used to perform the examination. The task lists are based on standard scanning guidelines and internal anatomic landmarks. The Curriculum cases have more complete task lists, and are accompanied by and Instructor's Manual with lesson plans containing an introduction, learning objectives, task list, demonstration lesson, teaching tips and a didactic curriculum outline. The Practice cases may not contain of complete task lists.
For all cases, the Instructor's Manual provides information regarding the difficulty level for the range of tasks and the normal and abnormal structures demonstrated in each case. Each Instructor's Manual also contains examples of case progression and integration in a complete educational program.
The instructor can use the Curriculum cases as demonstration lessons during laboratory session covering pathology and abnormal sonographic patterns. After the demonstration lesson, the students can spend the remainder of the laboratory time scanning the same case or a related practice case. Students with less clinical experience will take an average of 45 minutes to one hour to complete a multiple-organ task list from one of the Curriculum cases. Initial simulator sessions concentrating on abnormal sonographic patterns may require direct instructor supervision and assistance in recognizing the abnormal patterns. Students may use the reference prints in the Image Library during these practice sessions in order to assist them in finding the correct scan plane and recognizing the sonographic patterns.
The instructor should ensure that the student understands that more than one image is
acceptable for documentation of a given task. The most important concept is that the
entire organ of interest was examined for any evidence of pathology. The task lists are
grouped according to organ and standard body plane, and are listed in spatial/anatomic
sequence. A standard anatomic sequence encourages the development of spatial skills, as
well as an orderly approach to sonographic examination.
