Lucid Reality Labs IMSH 2023 Patient Simulation Favorites
Table of Contents
- Gaumard Scientific Hal® S5301
- Echo Healthcare Gwen Manikin
- Simcharacters Emily & Paul
- In Conclusion
January 21-25th has gathered the prominent Healthcare, education, simulation, and technology experts, both in-person and digitally, at the 23rd annual International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH) event. The IMSH is a global scientific conference organized by the Society for Simulation (SSH) in Healthcare. The SSH is a scientific non-profit organization that supports and advances healthcare simulations. The organization’s activities include research, development, administration, technology, policy, and curriculum development.
The IMSH is an annual superior industry event that brings healthcare professionals together, providing them with tools to help advance skills, explore best practices, and set standards that positively impact patient safety and outcomes.
Happening this year at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida, the event brought together a record number of attendees, breaking the record of previous years and counting over 4100 professionals from around the globe for five exciting days dedicated to advancing simulations in Healthcare. Filled with plenary speaker sessions, hands-on workshops, immersive courses, education sessions, research papers, awards, accreditation, scholarships, and much more, the IMHS is one of the largest scientific conferences. The industry & expo hall this year counted 140 exhibitors.
The Sunday, January 22, Exhibition Hall grand opening hosted by Jarrod Young, Linda Wilson, and Sean Cavanaugh had a fun twist with the SSH President, Haru Okuda, turning to ChatGPT to compose a paragraph of his opening speech. The IMSH 2023, without a doubt, has brought us many exciting simulation industry updates from both technological and research perspectives, covering the latest innovations and best practices in healthcare simulations. The conference offered hundreds of industry-focused presentations. The sessions covered various topics, from VR for Interprofessional Collaboration and VR for Distance Health Simulations to VR in Nursing Education and Forensic Education.
Even though today, many healthcare organizations and institutions are turning towards XR capabilities for simulations and training, the traditional manikins have advanced rapidly, delivering exceptional capabilities for education and training. While the next generations of healthcare professionals and patients will be much more technology-prone, the expectation for technology incorporation will continue accelerating. With the growing demand for XR, it will only be natural to see more XR-based or enhanced medical simulations.
While more healthcare professionals discover XR technology for their institutions, peers, or students, keeping the traditional patient simulation capabilities in mind is essential as the manikins have also been advancing at full speed. While each direction has advantages and disadvantages, combining traditional patient simulations with immersive technology could provide impeccable training and education experience. Both advancements aim to improve training and simulations for healthcare professionals around the globe. Therefore, using them in conjunction is a natural step to take.
“Enhancing physical simulators and manikins with advanced digital capabilities of XR technology can take the rapidly accelerating healthcare simulation industry to a completely new level of immersion. It can also give a different feel to the hands-on experience while the haptic technology, as we would wish to see it, is still in its initial stages of development. The physical manikins can replicate patient physical responses; however, a high-fidelity digital overlay would bring them to life. The goal here is to deliver new possibilities and tools for healthcare professionals around the globe. Ultimately improving patient safety and patient outcomes.”
Alex talks more about how VR technology can help educate and train medical professionals on medical devices in his interview with Lance Baily for the HealthySimulation.com Press Box.
While our articles cover more XR technology, trends, and insights, today, we want to turn our gaze to the traditional patient simulations, some noteworthy examples displayed during the IMSH 2023. Here are our top exhibitor picks from Gaumard Scientific, Echo Healthcare, and SIMCharacters. All, without a doubt, are worth checking out.
Gaumard Scientific HAL® S5301
Gaumard Scientific presented top interdisciplinary patient simulation manikins, including HAL® S5301, that featured neurologic, airway, breathing, cardiac, circulation, genitourinary, gastrointestinal, and trauma capabilities. This anatomically accurate male manikin replicated life-like human proportions and skin, realistic articulation, and can simulate natural expressions. Among other features, the manikin incorporates speech recognition and can produce a real-time voice response, programmable tears, and diaphoresis responses.
Echo Healthcare Gwen Manikin
Echo Healthcare displayed a range of life-like medical manikins, including adults and children of different ages and preterm and newborn babies of various ethnicities. These highly accurate simulations demonstrated exceptional visual quality, easily confused with real-life persons. For the IMSH 2023, Echo Healthcare brought us the lifecast body simulation, launching the world’s first child with Down Syndrome training manikin during this year’s event. With an emphasis on inclusion, Gwen Manikin is high in precision simulations that could be used for ventilator manufacturers to test devices.
SimCharacters Emily & Paul
SimCharacters presented highly realistic premature and newborn simulators. Intuitive and wireless, these anatomical replicas of newborn and premature babies, 39+6 and 27+3 weeks, respectively. The simulations were developed in collaboration with neonatal nurses, simulation trainers, and neonatologists. One of the remarkable premature baby simulators, Paul, enabled healthcare professionals to practice realistic preterm critical training. The other noteworthy simulation was the newly introduced newborn high emotion simulator Emily with airway, spontaneous and pathological breathing, circulation, neurology and movement, and many more capabilities.
In Conclusion
The IMSH is one industry event that brings together an exciting opportunity to exchange knowledge, ideas, technology, and networks. The scientific conference sets the stage for prominent experts around the globe to shape the future of healthcare simulations in collaboration. It is undoubtedly one of the events that spark interest and inspiration. The 2023 event has had a lot to offer. While the scientific conference has wrapped up on Wednesday, January 25, we are already looking forward to IMSH2024, scheduled for January 20-24, 2024, in San Diego, CA. Undoubtedly, next year’s event will break yet another historical record of attendance and engagement. We expect it to connect even more professionals in person and digitally to showcase how far traditional patient and XR solutions have advanced. Showcasing new capabilities that will help improve patient safety and outcomes.
About Lucid Reality Labs
Lucid Reality Labs is a visionary XR development company that crafts complex immersive solutions through spatial technology – from concept & design to development & support, with a strategic focus on Healthcare, Life Science, Aerospace & Defense, and many more. We equip industries with the boundless potential of immersive technology. The Lucid Reality Labs’ Team believes that XR can contribute to the improvement of the quality of life for people around the globe. With our mission of disrupting global challenges with responsible technology, the company delivers solutions with impact that elevate industries with immersive capabilities. Check the award-winning use cases created by Lucid Reality Labs here.
Authors: Lucid Reality Labs marketing team & subject matter experts.