Sim Sam mannequin helps IWK teams train for rare pediatric surgeries

The new tool helps staff practice for a scenario where a machine is needed to provide life support

CityNews Halifax Staff

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The IWK has a new tool to help teams train for rare pediatric surgeries.

Halifax: Surgical Sam, or Sim Sam, is a toddler-sized mannequin that provides a realistic simulation of breathing, bleeding and a beating heart during an extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) scenario. This is where an ECMO machine would be needed to provide life support by acting as the patient’s heart and lungs.

“With Sim Sam, we are able to have vital signs change, with a change in a beating heart and pulse, do actual intubation and ventilation of the lungs and see them move, fibrillate or arrest the heart, distend it, make it bleed, and most importantly – place Sim Sam on ECMO with our actual equipment,” explained pediatric cardiac surgeon, Dr. David Horne, in a news release.

“During our inaugural Sim Sam simulation, many clinicians said the simulation was so ‘real’ that they felt the same stress they had encountered in real life ECMO scenarios.”

The IWK says, on average, only two to six patients a year need ECMO support, so some specialists will only encounter the scenario once in their careers.

“As an ECMO specialist and respiratory therapist at the IWK, having Sim Sam to practice emergencies and routines is so important,” added Jennifer MacNeil.

“We are a low volume ECMO center and do frequent simulations to improve our skills, Sim Sam takes this practice to a whole new level, by providing real time feedback in all situations.”

Surgical Sam was co-developed by the Boston Children’s Hospital and a company called The Chamberlain Group, which got its start creating high-end visual effects for TV and film, including the iconic “bullet time” effect in the Matrix movies.

The IWK was able to acquire Sim Sam with funding from the Maritime Provinces Higher Education Commission (MPHEC).

A video of a recent Sim Sam simulation: