Technique Articles

A High-Fidelity Percutaneous Model Used to Demonstrate ECMO Cannulation

Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Comprehensive Care Services, Plymouth, Michigan; University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Presbyterian-Shadyside, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and North Carolina Children’s Hospital, University of North Carolina Medical Center, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Address correspondence to: David Palmer, EdD, CCP, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Medical, 4401 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15224-1334. E-mail: palmda@upmc.edu

Received: 17 February 2021
Accepted: 21 June 2021

Abstract

Medical simulation provides a realistic environment for practitioners to experience a planned clinical event in a controlled educational setting. We established a simulation model composed of synthetic ballistic gelatin that provided an inexpensive high-fidelity model for our extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) team members to develop, master, and maintain clinical skills necessary for percutaneous cervical or femoral cannulation. The simulation component includes a cervical torso or femoral percutaneous synthetic gelatin model that is attached to either a static fluid model or to the high-fidelity perfusion simulator. Either model can be accessed with ultrasound guidance, cannulated with appropriately sized cannula, and connected to an in situ ECMO circuit. This article explains how the model is made and connected to the simulator with the purpose of re-creating this high-fidelity experience at any institution.