Teaching Awareness Of The Drug Speedball Remotely Using the Human Patient Simulator

Abstract

Speedball is the co-abuse of cocaine and opioids. Speedball overdoses are usually caused by an opioid overdose, causing respiratory depression. This study aims to simulate a Speedball overdose using the human patient simulator (HPS) as a form of harm reduction education. The second aim is to compare how a video of the HPS Athena Manikin and a video of the virtual Embody Manikin display the physical symptoms of the Speedball simulation. A literature review was conducted to research the effects of cocaine and opioids separately and simultaneously. The chosen combination of Speedball was a codeine phosphate drink colloquially named Lean and intranasal cocaine. The literature review results were used to program the HPS. The heart rate and blood pressure results from the HPS were compared to Foltin and Fischman’s 1992 Speedball experiment. Both HPS and Foltin and Fischman’s experiment showed a rise in heart rate and blood pressure due to cocaine intoxication and a decrease in heart rate and blood pressure due to opioid intoxication. The Athena Manikin accurately displayed cyanosis, changes in pupil size and respiration rate. The Embody was able to show changes in pupil size accurately. However, cyanosis was not present, and opioid overdose respiration rate was inaccurately displayed. The misfunctioning Embody meant that a comparison of Embody and Manikin for remote learning could not be conducted.

Date of Award	19 Mar 2024
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bristol
Supervisor	Richard J Helyer (Supervisor) & Ana Paula Abdala Sheikh (Supervisor)