NeedleTrainer
Ultrasound-guided needling practice on a real person: the needle retracts instead of entering, and appears on the department's own ultrasound screen.
PresentOverview
Of the five simulators in this line, NeedleTrainer is the only one that does not simulate the patient. It simulates the needle.
Training in guided needling always meets the same limit: either you practise on a phantom, which has nobody's anatomy, or you practise on the patient. NeedleTrainer cuts the knot from the other side. The participant is a real person, with their own anatomy; the probe is the department's, and the image is the one that machine produces. What is simulated is only what would cause harm: the needle withdraws into the body of the device instead of entering, and the system draws on screen where it would be.
That changes what is learned. The difficulty of a guided block is not in advancing the needle: it is in keeping tip and beam in the same plane while the hand holding the probe is also moving. That coordination only exists when there is a patient with a pulse, breathing, and tissue that shifts.
The needle comes in three lengths, 40, 84 and 120 mm, and its gauge and echogenicity are configurable. The system measures needle visualisation, which gives the instructor a figure about the gesture rather than only an impression.
What the product brings
- Retractable needle in three lengths: 40 mm, 84 mm and 120 mm.
- Configurable gauge and echogenicity, to match the needle the department uses.
- Virtual needle overlaid on the department's own ultrasound image, in real time.
- Needle visualisation measurement, for competency assessment.
- Vascular Access Mode, covering line placement, nephrology and obstetrics.
- Peripheral Nerve Block module, for regional anaesthesia.
- NeedleTrainer Plus, with colour overlays to separate the structures in the image.
- Two configurations: cart or portable case.
Specification
- Clinical area
- Regional anaesthesiaVascular accessNephrologyObstetrics and gynaecology
- Simulation medium
- Live participant, scanned with the department's own ultrasoundRetractable needle: it withdraws instead of puncturingVirtual needle overlaid on the live image
- Modules and add-ons
- Vascular Access ModePeripheral Nerve Block moduleNeedleTrainer Plus, with colour overlays
Talk to us
Want to see NeedleTrainer working, or understand how it fits the ultrasound machine your department already has? Talk to us on WhatsApp.