NEW ORLEANS – Over 5,500 nurses and healthcare professionals are among the first in the world to see a new type of mannequin-based training platform for advanced procedure training at the National Teaching Institute and Critical Care Exposition (NTI) hosted by the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN) from May 19–21 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center.
Taiwan company, SurgMate, is showcasing its Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO) Cannulation and Endovascular Procedures Training Platform. ECMO is a life-support technique used in critical care when a patient’s heart and/or lungs are severely compromised and unable to function on their own.
The National Teaching Institute and Critical Care Exposition (NTI) marks the first time that SurgMate’s infant-sized mannequin has been on public display in the U.S. The flagship adult-sized mannequin was introduced to the market just last year, and NTI marks one of the first times it has been exhibited in the U.S.
Participating nurses in a pre-conference ECMO workshop at NTI gained valuable insights through demonstrations and hands-on interactions with both the adult-sized and infant-sized training platforms. ECMO cannulation refers to a high-risk, complex procedure involving the insertion of tubes called cannulas into major blood vessels to connect the patient to the ECMO circuit while endovascular procedures are minimally invasive surgical techniques performed within blood vessels using catheters, wires, and imaging guidance rather than open surgery.
“The SurgMate platforms are translucent, offering an inside look at a simulated patient undergoing ECMO,” said AACN Practice Excellence Supervisor Sara Grieshop, MHI, BSN, RN, who was one of the facilitators for the ECMO workshop. “Virtual reality doesn’t offer the feel of working with a patient, common simulation mannequins don’t provide a look inside the patient, while other ECMO training tools are not as realistic as the Surgmate ones being demonstrated at NTI.”
The new SurgMate ECMO Cannulation and Endovascular Procedures Training Platform provides participants the opportunity to troubleshoot ECMO machines and perform emergency circuit changes.
According to SurgMate, the training platforms feature integrated systemic and pulmonary circulatory systems and ECMO console compatibility, which supports an immersive environment for skill-building, teamwork, and scenario-based critical care practice.
“Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) was developed in the 1960s as a long-term “bypass machine” to support a patient’s heart and lungs, vastly evolving technology associated with a high rate of mortality,” said Grieshop. “Highly skilled nurses are needed to troubleshoot and prevent ECMO emergencies.”
A study published earlier this year in the American Journal of Critical Care found that from 2016 through 2021, more than 3 million adult patients in the U.S. were admitted to the hospital with pneumonia (both COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 related). Of these, 5,680 patients with COVID-19 pneumonia and 430 patients with non-COVID-19 pneumonia underwent ECMO.
The study also confirmed the extent to which the number of patients treated with ECMO increased after the emergence of COVID-19.
“The number of patients with COVID-19 pneumonia treated with ECMO in 2020 and 2021 significantly exceeded the number of patients with non-COVID-19 pneumonia treated with ECMO during the combined six-year period from 2016 through 2021 that was included in the analysis.,” said one of the study’s authors Francisco J. Gallegos-Koyner, MD, a resident physician at SBH Health System in New York.
The use of ECMO therapy continues to increase for critically ill patients with severe respiratory or cardiac failure. There are approximately 300 to 400 ECMO programs in the United States, with over 100 new centers launching in the last three to five years according to a survey of adult ECMO centers published by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
