Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023 - 22

FEATURE / SIMULATION
3D PRINTING
Customizing simulations refines care
Arkansas Children's is home to the
Simulation Education Center, with the
mission of increasing safety, improving
skills and promoting development.
Because children's hospitals perform
services on smaller patients and need
specialized materials, they require far
more customized simulations to improve
applicability to real patients. One
essential component to achieving that
realism is the health system's eight 3D
printers.
Ranging
Practice recognizing
sepsis in deteriorating
patients with the
award-winning E-Sim
tool from Children's
Hospital Association's
Pediatric Learning
Solutions. Learn more
at childrenshospitals
.org/sepsiscourses.
from basic to complex,
the printers
provide pediatric
materials for both
clinical and educational
needs across
the hospital.
" A decade or
more ago, it was clear that there were
unmet needs in the pediatric simulation
space, " says Eric Braden, simulation
specialist at Arkansas Children's. " Most
research and development comes from
the military or adult hospitals, and the
market segment for pediatrics is just
smaller, so materials are often lacking in
quality or availability. "
3D printing provides custom, highfidelity
models of anatomical parts,
down to the tiniest of sizes. Using
various materials, including synthetic
resins and complex substances, they can
print body parts such as limbs, hearts
and spines that mimic the texture, density
and size of the anatomical part. And
they often only take a few hours to produce,
depending on the model.
" We can print a mold to make realistic
and anatomically accurate reusable
models for a fairly low cost, " says Braden.
The replicas can be used to enhance all
kinds of simulations. Clinicians and
educators across departments come to
Braden with requests, and he produces
lifelike aids to meet their simulation
needs. " Faculty are often involved in
the development of the model as well,
so they have personalized input on
what they need and what they want to
do, " says Braden.
For example, the education team at
Arkansas Children's discovered that
the options for pediatric central line
training devices were lacking, and
they were able to create custom devices
that allow for repeated, simulated
practice. In another case, they printed
soft tissue molds using silicone or gels
to add on to a mannequin to practice
cannulation techniques.
3D printing is transformative for
surgeons with patients who have
congenital heart defects. Surgeons
work with Braden to print and develop
a model of a specific patient's heart,
which varies anatomically from person
to person. Surgeons note that simply
the tactile nature of the organ helps
considerably, but the 3D models are
so detailed-showing the exact structure
of the heart with color-coded
valves, arteries, and ventricles-that
surgeons can develop a precise plan
for the surgery, fabricate patches and
other necessary materials ahead of
time, and simulate the entire surgery
on the model.
Recently, a surgeon at Arkansas
Children's was able to determine a
more specific surgical plan with the
patient-specific model of a congenital
heart defect. " They were able to improve
the patient's quality of life long-term
with a more complex repair, whereas
before it was more of a simple repair, "
says Braden.
Another benefit of a 3D model is explaining
surgical plans to patients and
families. Having a 3D visual of the organ
helps them more readily understand
the procedure than a 2D image does. In
the future, Braden and his team hope
to expand the program to help educate
parents. One example includes patients
who receive tracheotomies. Currently,
their parents may go through training
on a doll or something more generic. A
3D printed model would allow for more
accurate training in case they have to
perform the procedure in an emergency
setting. " We're meeting an absolutely
unmet need, " says Braden.
Grant Heiman is a writer at Children's
Hospital Association.
Send questions or comments to
magazine@childrenshospitals.org.
22
CHILDREN'S HOSPITALS TODAY Spring 2023
Children's Hospitals Today - Spring 2023

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