INDUSTRY NEWS

Simulation training improves skills for catheter insertion

Written by Editorial Staff   
May 18, 2009
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New technology allows student doctors to practice operations and other procedures on simulators before trying them out on real patients, just as pilots practice for emergencies on aircraft simulators, according to a plenary paper session at the 2009 Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM) annual meeting in New Orleans on May 14.

Researchers at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., led by Leigh Evans, MD, used simulated central line insertion training for half of a group of junior doctors, while the other half of the group learned the skill in the old-fashioned bedside manner.

After watching the junior doctors perform the procedure on nearly 500 patients, the researchers found a much higher success rate for the doctors who trained with simulation.

The technical error and complication rates were roughly the same, showing no increase in risk to training doctors on a simulator instead of on human patients, according to Evans.

Evans and colleagues said that the findings support using simulation to allow for safe training of complex technical skills that could pose a risk to patients if tried for the first time by inexperienced students and doctors.
Last updated on June 14, 2009 at 3:39 pm EST