Arterial pulsation on a human patient simulator improved students’ pulse assessment

Abstract

Even with basic cardiovascular lectures, undergraduates do not usually experience the reality of palpation and, therefore, cannot integrate their physiological knowledge. We created a pulse training scenario of human patient simulators (HPS) to recognize and assess the normal and arrhythmic pulse of the radial artery. All 25 participants were recruited as volunteers to the study from the School of Allied Health Sciences, Kitasato University. Participants received training in radial palpation of arrhythmias on HPS. The test scenario included 10 arrhythmic pulses combined with normal pulses and weak pulses. The average examination scores significantly improved, from 23.8 ± 2.8 of the pretest to 72.9 ± 3.4 of the posttest (mean and SE, N = 25, p < 0.00001). A questionnaire and general written comments for the palpation training were positive. The palpation training improved the participants' assessment of radial pulses.

Virtual Patient Platform and Data Space for Sharing, Learning, Discussing, and Researching

“…Its controlling software relies on highly structured information that establishes, for example, the heart rate and blood pressure of the manikin. The behavior and health condition of this manikin can pass through several states as part of a simulation scenario [13]. It is a graph where each node is a state of the manikin -i.e., a configuration of the simulator -and the transformations according to students' actions, e.g., one applies medication to the manikin to reduce the heart rate [14].…”

Hysteresis Compensation in a Tactile Device for Arterial Pulse Reproduction

“…One of the earliest commercially available simulators used for medical training was the Harvey ® (Laerdal, Stavanger, Norway), a mannequin that simulates several cardiopulmonary functions, including arterial pulse. This system is still used and has been shown, from very early on, to provide good results [ 27 , 28 , 29 ]. One other relevant commercial device is the Self-Teaching System (STS) for Cardiac Auscultation (Cardionics, Webster, TX, USA), that allows training of palpation and auscultation, even though no studies were found to confirm its effectiveness.…”