Querry Patient simulators

Melclin

Melclin

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I'm currently in the process of writing a pt simulator specific to Australian EMS in html first, but I'm hoping to put in something a bit more dynamic later on.

I'm frustrated by some of stuff I've seen out there. Other than the normal limitations, they are, almost without fail, American programs (we have a somewhat different approach to EMS here and its difficult to try and apply our methods in an American simulator). So I thought I'd write one of my own, for the fun of it, but I'm hoping to actually make it a useful educational tool for us Aussies and specifically us uni students.

So I'm wondering what you guys thought about virtual pt simulators, the ups the downs, features that are good/bad, must have features, ways of going about things that add to the realism....anything you've seen or ideas you have for giving the trainee as much information as possible in a realistic way, but not just listing a set of vitals.
 
Dominion

Dominion

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Let people do anything they want to your simulator and respond realistically. If you shock a walking talking patient, do the approriate response in the sim. Have a post-word for when you give an inapproriate intervention that tells the student "hey you screwed up and can lose your license, this is why" Or something like that. If something you do has no effect, then make the sim say that. If you have a chest pain patient and you have splint arm on the sim, that's not going to do anything, the sim could just say "You splint the arm to no effect" or something similar.

These are just simple examples but you get where I"m going with this.
 
thowle

thowle

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Write the simulator using a 3D engine ;). In the process of doing this now; something like ZeroHour, but more interactive.
 
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Melclin

Melclin

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I want COD:6 "Medic!". But failing that, having seen some of the simulators at uni, I don't think I can compete with them, even though they are mostly useless because we can't apply out protocols properly. They're just so pretty though. Might head more in the direction of a random case generator. That way we don't have to do the same cases over and over again which is just silly.
 
thowle

thowle

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Well, are you wanting to design and develop a 3D interactive simulator, or a 2D Graphics and text only simlator? Right now I'm making a patient simulator for EMTPortal that will have just general graphics for the scene, and give you options on what to do with the patient. When you're done it will give you a review of what you did, what you did right and wrong.

We should team up and put our ideas together!
 
thowle

thowle

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emtportalpatientsim.png
 
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Melclin

Melclin

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Markhk: Yeah Microsim is the one we have at uni. I had a little play, and this is when I realised I couldn't compete interface wise.

Even though its customizable its still not really appropriate for applying things specifically the way we are taught, using our equipment etc. And it has frustrating interface problems. The point of a learning simulator is that it makes learning easier. With Microsim I was constantly thinking, "well actually I would do this, in this amount, in this way, but there's not button for that....so I suppose that's the closest". I would happily sacrifice graphics for a text based program if it meant a more faithful ability to practice and learn our particular way of doing things.

thowle: I'm happy to help in any way I can, but I've not much to offer. The points I came up with when I was brainstorming what I wanted were the following.

- I needed something that didn't require each case to be specifically designed. An endless "random case generator" if u will. (Which is now what I'm focusing on more than anything, so that we can stop struggling to make up piss poor scenarios with obvious answers during practical practice).

- Simulators prompt people to much. You open a drop down menu and shows a list of drugs with their dossages along side a list of different airway procedures etc.. while the person still has to remember the order, there's a big difference learning wise between selecting treatments from a list, and spontaneously recalling them when presented with a novel situation.

- A sample picture of certain parts of the pt body should be available on demand. Something that draws from a small bank of photos showing clinically relevant signs. JVD for example. You don't wanna rub a clue like that in their face, but at the same time you it has to be noticeable without nessarily saying "And now I am looking at the jugular" because IRL there are going to be signs that a more subtle but still apparent without specifically looking for them..if you know what I mean.

-Vitals and observations taken within the program shouldn't stay up. When you take a pulse it shouldn't just appear in the corner in a list of vitals. In real life, you take the pulse, and write it down or remember it. Having a "notepad window" where you can make notes might be a handy idea.
 
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