The BBC have made the following video about our ‘inflatable operating theatre’ for BBC Worldwide Health Check programme:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11452711

Studiohead are currently testing a simulated Anaesthetic machine they have developed for Imperial College London. This has been showcased at the AMEE conference in Glasgow this month, and received great interest from medical educators.

The machine encompasses two iPads that display the patient’s simulated ECG and ventilation screens. These can be manipulated by an invigilator via an iPod touch (below), to change the patients heart rate, blood pressure and more. The invigilator can also introduce a heart attack to the simulation via the iPod.

Our new iPad apps that simulate the anaesthesia stack in a trauma ward are in their final stages before testing in our simulated operating theatre. The apps will simulate the ECG (heart trace) and ventilation screens used by an anaesthetist during a trauma or surgical procedure. They will make full use of the iPads’ touch screens to offer a user interface so that the anaesthetist can respond to their patient’s conditions.

A supervisor in turn controls the simulated patient’s conditions via a remote on an iPod touch, up to 10 meters away.

The iPads are an intrinsic part of a simulated anaesthetic stack (ventilation machine) that we have specially created, that also includes the simulation of the manual breathing action (bagging) that an anaesthetist may do for a patient.

This prototype will add a significant new functionality to the Distributed Simulation project we are undertaking with Imperial College London. The beta prototype is due to be demonstrated at the AMEE conference in Glasgow next week. Check back here for an update in the coming days…