Early experience with simulated trauma resuscitation

Although trauma resuscitation is best taught through direct exposure with h ands-on experience, the oppurtunities for this type of teaching in Canada a re limited by the relatively low incidence of serious injury and the consol idation of trauma care to a small number of centres. Simulators have been u sed 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 comput er, that simulates a variety of physiologic and injury specific variables i s presented. The resource implications of simulated resuscitation are revie wed, 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.