Skin Integrity Models for Clinical Simulation Training

Healthcare professionals often lack access to high-quality, hands-on training opportunities for skin-related conditions. For instance, the most employed methods for wound debridement training, involve the use of orange peel or pig's feet; both having notable drawbacks that fail to simulate the intricate biological and physiological properties associated with various types of wounds and skin types encountered by clinicians. Insufficient practice can lead to errors during real surgeries, affecting patient safety and outcomes. Current simulator training models are costly and not widely accessible and made from materials that are unrelated to that of natural tissue, therefore many trainees’ first encounter with certain skin conditions are performed on living patients, which carries significant patient risk. This project involves collaboration between consultant plastic surgeons, tissue viability nurses and materials scientists to develop lifelike simulation models that accurately mimic the visual and mechanical properties of skin conditions commonly seen in the clinic. To achieve this, natural biomaterials will be used to create 3D-models of wounds and scars, that are matched closely to the properties of living tissue and will be used to allow students to safely experience lifelike sensations during training. Findings from this project will help direct the route towards commercialisation, making these simulation training models readily available to healthcare training providers and clinicians, to use in demonstrations to trainees and patients. This will ultimately contribute to a more skilled and competent healthcare workforce and subsequently better patient outcomes.