Development of the Orpheus Perfusion Simulator for Use in High-fidelity Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Simulation

Despite its life-sustaining potential, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) remains a complex treatment modality for which close teamwork is imperative with a high risk of adverse events leading to significant morbidity and mortality. The provision of adequate training and continuing education is key in mitigating these risks. Traditional training for ECMO has relied predominantly on didactic education and hands-on water drills. These methods may overemphasize cognitive skills while underemphasizing technical skills and completely ignoring team and human factor skills. These water drills are often static, lacking the time pressure, typical alarms, and a sense of urgency inherent to actual critical ECMO scenarios. Simulation-based training provides an opportunity for staff to develop and maintain technical proficiency in high-risk, infrequent events without fear of harming patients. In addition, it provides opportunities for interdisciplinary training and improved communication and teamwork among team members (1). Although simulation has become widely accepted for training of practitioners from many disciplines, there are currently, to our knowledge, no commercially available dedicated high-fidelity ECMO simulators. Our article describes the modification of the Orpheus Perfusion Simulator and its incorporation into a fully immersive, high-fidelity, point-of-care ECMO simulation model.