When was the last time you put in a chest tube or performed an emergency surgical airway? Would you like to learn to place central lines more safely using Ultrasound guidance?

The Simulation-assisted Emergency Medicine Procedures course (SEMP) was designed to allow physicians to acquire and review their skills in essential life-saving emergency procedures including:

1. Needle Cricothyrotomy and transtracheal jet ventillation
2. Open Cricothyrotomy
3. Needle Thoracostomy
4. Chest Tube insertion
5. Intraosseous Vascular access in Adults
6. Intraosseous Vascular access in Children
7. Pericardiocentesis
8. Central line Vascular access, landmark technique
9. Ultrasound-guided Central line vascular access
10. Principles of effective emergency resuscitation

Before the course, the students will have access to web-based learning modules. These online modules will include videos, animations, powerpoint lectures, and select articles from the literature that demonstrate the cognitive aspects of performing the procedure. Students will complete this self-directed learning at their convenience, before arriving for the one-day hands-on procedure lab and human patient simulator sessions. The hands-on portion of the course will take place at the Center of Excellence for Surgical Innovation and Education (CESEI) at Vancouver General Hospital, where experienced instructors will demonstrate the procedures and supervise the students as they practice on animal and realistic plastic models. Finally, the students will have the opportunity to integrate performance of these procedures into the real-time resuscitation of a critically ill patient using the latest Human Patient Simulator technology to create realistic scenarios.

To find out about upcoming SEMP courses or to arrange a SEMP course for your group or as a pre-course for a major medical conference, please contact us at: afshin.khazei@vch.ca