Zoom on Gaumard: The future of medical simulators

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We recently described how Virtual Reality and haptic gloves were on a path to revolutionize Surgical Training is delivered. Gaumard Scientific, a company, headquartered in Miami, FL, went one step further. They develop and produce responsive medical robots that combine RFID tags and mixed reality technology.

Their patients’ simulators aim at empowering healthcare providers with highly innovative training solutions. Just like pilots train in flight simulators, obstetricians can now benefit from highly advanced simulators that have come a long way from the CPR dummies we all used to train on.

VICTORIA as the future of child-birth simulators

Back in 1946, Gaumard developed the first synthetic human skeleton. VICTORIA is one of the company’s latest innovations. Students and professionals now have the possibility to train on the most advanced labor & delivery simulator in the world.

With anatomically accurate proportion, VICTORIA simulates labor and delivery. Multiple scenarios can be programmed to facilitate the training of the medical team through Simulation Learning experiences.

The simulator reacts like a real patient and supports numerous medical equipment such as a Fetal Monitor, ECG monitor, Defibrillator, or pulse oximeter. This way, the medical team can train using real-life medical tools.

According to UNICEF, every 11 seconds, a pregnant woman or a newborn dies. The United States is the 37th country in the world regarding child mortality, emphasizing the need for training. Healthcare simulation is an amazing way to train not only doctors but emergency medical services as well. Victoria reacts like a real patient, has interactive eyes and can present signs of multiple diseases or conditions.

Wireless and tetherless, the scenarios and complications are fully programmable using a tablet. We especially appreciate the fact that virtual medicines and bloodlines can be applied using RFID syringes.

Gaumard has truly put a lot of thought into developing its patient care simulator. Even the delivered newborn is a full-term baby of realistic size on which it is even possible to perform an APGAR assessment.

Mixed Reality as a way to go even further

Obstetric MR™ is another innovation brought to the world of healthcare education. By combining VICTORIA with an HoloLens 2 mixed reality headset, obstetricians now have the possibility to see inside the simulator. This way, they can improve their learning experience and assess the rotation of the pelvis or fetal shoulder as they deliver the baby.

It opens new doors to the learning of clinical cause and effect. Up to 6 participants can share the experience, each of them from their unique vantage point. Merging responsive robots with the vision in real-time of the internal organs is a dream that comes true for Professors that can guide their students in real-time and explain to them the internal consequences of their real-world actions.

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Just as recording sonograms with digital stethoscopes has huge didactic benefits, the simulated deliveries can be recorded and analyzed afterward to improve the procedure.

Gaumard has clearly brought to the world a fully disruptive way to improve health care education. No doubt that their devices are already used in major teaching hospitals and nursing schools.

Revolutionizing medical training one innovation at a time

The company also offers adult size or pediatric patient simulators. Their Pediatric HAL® is considered the world’s most advanced pediatric patient simulator. It is capable of expressing lifelike emotions through dynamic facial expressions, movement, and speech. Ongoing pain, transient pain, or even crying is part of the simulator’s emotions.

By understanding the patient’s state of mind, doctors can better react and consider treatments that physiological indicators may not have shown. For emergency training, Pediatric HAL is just amazing.

Gaumard is even working on an ultrasound simulation robot. No doubt that virtual training will play a major role in medical training in the years to come. We can not wait to see what the next innovation of this company will be—all of their efforts to provide better care to the patient.

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