Healthy Simulations: IMSH Comes to San Diego

By Neil Thompson

The International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH) came to San Diego January 20-24. Hosted by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH), the meeting, attracting over 4,000 attendees, showcased the latest and greatest in healthcare simulation.

I must admit, I knew very little about this space, but it must be a big deal, as there were two podcasts that were onsite covering the meeting: the SimGeeks podcast and the Sim Café podcast. Maybe I need to get my podcast featured at a conference…

What am I talking about when I say simulation in healthcare?

It can be anything from human-like models to VR goggles. Users can get the training they need without the risks that come with live subjects.

SSH was gracious enough to provide a tour of select exhibits before they were available to the attendees.

Have you ever seen a human model that looks like it’s breathing? I have now. The model blinked, too. Life-like indeed!

At the first few exhibits I visited that had models, they were male. I was curious if female and child models existed, too. They do, even “pregnant” ones.  

So many scenarios can play out in a healthcare setting. With VR googles, one can visualize such scenarios and act them out. A woman being examined with her angry husband yelling in the background? Surprisingly, that’s a scenario!

Another exhibitor was showcasing its portable wireless battery-powered camera, able to video simulations.

The existence of events like IMSH is important, as there is still some hesitancy to adopt simulation solutions in healthcare, often stemming from wariness of the technology and budget constraints. IMSH provides a forum for end users to see the technology up close and speak with company representatives to learn about cost-effective and clinically-effective solutions.

Thanks to SSH for providing the tour, and to the exhibitors whose booths I visited: Laerdal Medical, Medical-X, Intelligent Video Solutions, HTC-VIVE, Limbs & Things, Surgical Science, SimX, Gaumard, CAE, and EMS.