DETECTING INSERTION OF NEEDLE INTO SIMULATED VESSEL USING A CONDUCTIVE FLUID

摘要

A medical trainer simulator includes a plurality of simulated vessels filled with a conductive fluid representing, for example, veins or arteries. While performing a procedure using the medical trainer, a person inserts a medical instrument, e.g., a needle or scalpel, into a selected vessel, causing the medical instrument to contact the conductive fluid. A circuit board detects when a circuit is thus created by detecting an electrical current flowing through the medical instrument and the conductive fluid it has contacted. A software program executing on a computer excludes any phantom circuit occurring when the medical instrument contacts conductive fluid from a previous procedure that is not within one of the vessels. A phantom circuit is detected if the resistance of the resulting circuit exceeds a predetermined threshold. The computer visually and/or audibly indicates whether the correct vessel was pierced or excised by the medical instrument.

主权项

1. A system for training a user to insert a medical device to a desired target position within a body of a person undergoing a medical procedure, comprising:
(a) a medical trainer simulator that contains simulated body lumens and which simulates a portion of an actual body where the desired target position is disposed, at least one of the body lumens including a conductive fluid simulating a bodily fluid being disposed at the desired target position within the medical training simulator; (b) an electrical resistance measuring circuit that is electrically coupled to the conductive fluid contained in the least one of the simulated body lumens and to the medical device that is to be inserted, the electrical resistance measuring circuit producing an output signal indicative of an electrical resistance between the medical device and the conductive fluid; and (c) a computing device executing machine instructions to monitor the output signal and determine if the medical device has been inserted into the a simulated body lumen in which the desired target position is disposed.