gms | German Medical Science

Utilizing high fidelity mannequins, many day one skills can be transferred to students. These instructional exercises are effective at helping students master how to perform these skills, but do not provide context for management of the patient as a whole. Computer-based clinical simulations can provide this context.

We believe that the combination of mannequin-based skills training and computer based simulations of clinical problems will provide a more complete learning experience. The mannequins used will be both handmade and commercially available phantoms. The computer simulation will be the Virtual Clinic of the Veterinary Information Network (VIN).

The first combined training, to be launched in September 2015 is the management of acute, hypovolemic shock. The three step exercise will require students to first stop bleeding using custom made bleeding limb models. The next step will be to provide an intravenous route for fluid administration, using custom built IV catheterization models. The final step will be to manage the fluid resuscitation and stabilization of their patient presented to them in the Acute Hemorrhage Simulator of the VIN Virtual Clinic.

Students will be scored on their performance by summing the results of an objective scoring chart of their performance with the mannequins, and the built-in performance review of the VIN Virtual Clinic.