Laerdal is a multinational company that develops products and programs for healthcare providers, voluntary organizations, educational institutions, hospitals, and the military worldwide. Laerdal has over 2,000 employees in 26 countries. The headquarters is located in Stavanger, Norway.
Laerdal was founded in 1940 by Åsmund S. Lærdal as a children’s publishing and toy company. During the years as a toy developer, Lærdal learned about a synthetic plastic material, now known as PVC, that was suited for the casting of toys and dolls. The use of soft plastics revolutionized the toy industry and by 1960, more than 100 million toy cars, under the brand Tomte, had been sold in 100 countries. [1] The Laerdal Anne doll was named "Toy of the Year" and became a bestseller throughout Europe. [2] Due to this experience with soft plastics, The Norwegian Civil Defense called on Laerdal to design natural-looking imitation wounds for military training. In 1958, Laerdal was approached by Norwegian anesthesiologist Dr. Bjørn Lind after learning from Dr. Peter Safar about the need for a lifelike manikin to train the new concept of mouth-to-mouth ventilation. [3] Together, Laerdal, Lind and Safar developed the world’s first patient simulator, Resusci Anne, which was introduced in 1960.
The face of Resusci Anne [4] was inspired by the death mask of an unidentified girl who was found drowned in the River Seine in Paris at the turn of the 19th century. [5] Resusci Anne would become the predecessor of a series of manikins used to teach cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). [6]
During the next 60 years, Laerdal resuscitation training manikins were developed to train both healthcare providers and the general population in the lifesaving skill of CPR. It is estimated by the American Heart Association that resuscitation training manikins have been used to train 500 million people worldwide saving an estimated 2.5 million lives.[ citation needed ] Laerdal's resuscitation training is used to strengthen the Chain of Survival. The Chain of Survival illustrates the sequence of interventions for cardiac arrest that have been shown to improve survival from sudden cardiac arrest.
Today, medical errors result in an estimated 4.1 million deaths globally, every year. [7] The methodology of simulation training in healthcare education has gained widespread recognition within the field of healthcare as a tool for reinforcing clinical skills and knowledge. Laerdal was one of the first companies to develop products for medical simulation, introducing a series of realistic human patient simulators, to enable interactive training without risk to patient safety.
As technology developed, patient manikins evolved into advanced, realistic human-like simulators used for healthcare training and medical simulation. These simulators can be used to supplement clinical practice. In a large-scale study examining the use of simulation in nursing, it was found that high quality simulation can replace up to 50% of clinical training hours. [8] Simulation training allows for skills training and performance measurement. Simulators transmit feedback – measuring performance in metrics including CPR, emergency cardiovascular care (ECC), automated external defibrillator (AED), arrhythmia, blood pressure, airway and ventilation management, ultrasound diagnostics, advanced critical care, endovascular procedures, neonatal, venous and arterial, and nursing and patient care. Education is hands-on with directive feedback in audio, visual or both, with apps for smartphones and tablets. Technology that offers objective feedback during and after simulation is used for debriefing and improving learner performance.
The well-known Resusci Anne simulator has been updated to include variation with CPR metrics feedback technology, advanced skill training, and first aid. The newborn and pediatric simulators, Resusci Junior and Resusci Baby, also allow for CPR feedback technology. Laerdal's introduced its high-fidelity simulator, SimMan 3G, in 2009. Several iterations have followed that include Simman 3G Trauma, SimMan Essential, SimMan ALS, SimMan Vascular, SimMom, SimBaby and SimNewb. In 2019, Laerdal acquired the company B-Line Medical, a debriefing, assessment, and training management platform. After a partnership signed in 2018, Laerdal Medical now offers integrated simulators with B-Line Medical technology.
Laerdal works with global partners such as the British Heart Foundation on their Nation of Lifesavers project to train school children to perform CPR and AED use. From September 2020, first aid and CPR will be added to the primary and secondary school curriculum in England. Similarly, Laerdal supplies the American Heart Association (AHA) with CPR training kits for use with their CPR in schools program. In the United States, 38 states now require CPR training as part of the high school graduation requirement. [9] Together with the AHA and the Global Resuscitation Alliance, Resuscitation Quality Improvement (RQI) programs are used at hospitals to refresh the CPR skills of healthcare providers using short, frequent training sessions. Laerdal is also a partner of the National League for Nursing for patient simulation training for nursing education and collaborates with the American Academy of Pediatrics to develop neonatal resuscitation education through education and technology.
Laerdal Global Health (LGH) is the not-for-profit sister company established in 2010 to help save the lives of mothers and newborns in low-income countries. Laerdal and partners provide the tools and training for safer deliveries. One of these programs, Helping Babies Breathe, [10] has been used to train 500,000 midwives in 80 low-income countries. [11]
The Laerdal Foundation for Acute Medicine was established in 1980 to provide financial support to practically oriented research and development in acute medicine. In recent years there has also been an added focus on projects related to saving lives at birth in low-resource settings. The foundation has supported 1600 international research projects with more than 40 million dollars in funding. [12]
The Laerdal Foundation facilitates an annual meeting for medical researchers from around the world at the Utstein Abbey outside of Stavanger, Norway, to make recommendations for how to implement best practices in topics including resuscitation, [13] patient simulation, maternal and neonatal mortality. The widely accepted Utstein Formula for Survival [14] is a model that employs three elements in hypothesizing potential survival rates: medical science, educational efficiency and local implementation. The Global Resuscitation Alliance was established at the Utstein meeting to promote best practices in resuscitation research. [15]
Cardiac arrest, also known as sudden cardiac arrest, is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. As a result, blood cannot properly circulate around the body and there is diminished blood flow to the brain and other organs. When the brain does not receive enough blood, this can cause a person to pass out and become unresponsive. Cardiac arrest is also identified by a lack of central pulses and abnormal or absent breathing.
Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) is an emergency procedure consisting of chest compressions often combined with artificial ventilation, or mouth to mouth in an effort to manually preserve intact brain function until further measures are taken to restore spontaneous blood circulation and breathing in a person who is in cardiac arrest. It is recommended for those who are unresponsive with no breathing or abnormal breathing, for example, agonal respirations.
Advanced cardiac life support, advanced cardiovascular life support (ACLS) refers to a set of clinical guidelines for the urgent and emergent treatment of life-threatening cardiovascular conditions that will cause or have caused cardiac arrest, using advanced medical procedures, medications, and techniques. ACLS expands on Basic Life Support (BLS) by adding recommendations on additional medication and advanced procedure use to the CPR guidelines that are fundamental and efficacious in BLS. ACLS is practiced by advanced medical providers including physicians, some nurses and paramedics; these providers are usually required to hold certifications in ACLS care.
A do-not-resuscitate order (DNR), also known as Do Not Attempt Resuscitation (DNAR), Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR), no code or allow natural death, is a medical order, written or oral depending on the jurisdiction, indicating that a person should not receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) if that person's heart stops beating. Sometimes these decisions and the relevant documents also encompass decisions around other critical or life-prolonging medical interventions. The legal status and processes surrounding DNR orders vary in different polities. Most commonly, the order is placed by a physician based on a combination of medical judgement and patient involvement.
A mannequin is a doll, often articulated, used by artists, tailors, dressmakers, window dressers and others, especially to display or fit clothing and show off different fabrics and textiles. Previously, the English term referred to human models and muses ; the meaning as a dummy dating from the start of World War II.
An automated external defibrillator or automatic electronic defibrillator (AED) is a portable electronic device that automatically diagnoses the life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias of ventricular fibrillation (VF) and pulseless ventricular tachycardia, and is able to treat them through defibrillation, the application of electricity which stops the arrhythmia, allowing the heart to re-establish an effective rhythm.
Basic life support (BLS) is a level of medical care which is used for patients with life-threatening illnesses or injuries until they can be given full medical care by advanced life support providers. It can be provided by trained medical personnel, such as emergency medical technicians, and by qualified bystanders.
The Seattle & King County Emergency Medical Services System is a fire-based two-tier response system providing prehospital basic and advanced life support services.
James Otis Elam was an American physician and respiratory researcher.
ABC and its variations are initialism mnemonics for essential steps used by both medical professionals and lay persons when dealing with a patient. In its original form it stands for Airway, Breathing, and Circulation. The protocol was originally developed as a memory aid for rescuers performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and the most widely known use of the initialism is in the care of the unconscious or unresponsive patient, although it is also used as a reminder of the priorities for assessment and treatment of patients in many acute medical and trauma situations, from first-aid to hospital medical treatment. Airway, breathing, and circulation are all vital for life, and each is required, in that order, for the next to be effective. Since its development, the mnemonic has been extended and modified to fit the different areas in which it is used, with different versions changing the meaning of letters or adding other letters.
Neonatal nursing is a sub-specialty of nursing care for newborn infants up to 28 days after birth. The term neonatal comes from neo, "new", and natal, "pertaining to birth or origin". Neonatal nursing requires a high degree of skill, dedication and emotional strength as they care for newborn infants with a range of problems. These problems vary between prematurity, birth defects, infection, cardiac malformations and surgical issues. Neonatal nurses are a vital part of the neonatal care team and are required to know basic newborn resuscitation, be able to control the newborn's temperature and know how to initiate cardiopulmonary and pulse oximetry monitoring. Most neonatal nurses care for infants from the time of birth until they are discharged from the hospital.
The Nicole Wertheim College of Nursing & Health Sciences (NWCNHS) at Florida International University, located in Miami, Florida in the United States is one of the university's 26 schools and colleges and was founded in 1982. The Acting Dean of the college is Dr. Jorge Valés and the college has more than 3,500 alumni nurses.
Resusci Anne, also known as Rescue Anne, Resusci Annie, CPR Annie, Resuscitation Annie, Little Annie, or CPR Doll is a model of medical simulator used for teaching both emergency workers and members of the general public. Resusci Anne was developed by the Norwegian toy maker Åsmund S. Laerdal and the Austrian-Czech physician Peter Safar and American physician James Elam, and is produced by the company Laerdal Medical. Anne is rumored to be modeled after a dead woman who died in the Seine.
Hertfordshire Intensive Care & Emergency Simulation Centre (HICESC) is an advanced teaching facility based at the University of Hertfordshire. At its creation in 1998, it was an inter-Faculty practical laboratory hosted by the Department of Electronic, Communication and Electrical Engineering (ECEE) for access by medical engineering students and jointly established by the Department of Nursing and Paramedic Sciences, Faculty of Health and Human Sciences for use by their students.
Resuscitation Council UK (RCUK) is a healthcare charity focused on resuscitation education and training for healthcare professionals and bystander CPR awareness for the public.
Harvey was one of the earliest medical simulators available for training of health care professionals. Harvey was created in 1968 by Dr. Michael S. Gordon at the University of Miami. Harvey is currently sold by the Laerdal Corporation.
Pediatric Basic Life Support (PBLS) is a rescue procedure which has purpose of preventing the anoxic brain damage by promoting the return of spontaneous circulation and breathing in cases of cardiac arrest.
Neonatal resuscitation, also known as newborn resuscitation, is an emergency procedure focused on supporting approximately 10% of newborn children who do not readily begin breathing, putting them at risk of irreversible organ injury and death. Many of the infants who require this support to start breathing breath well on their own after assistance. Through positive airway pressure, and in severe cases chest compressions, medical personnel certified in neonatal resuscitation can often stimulate neonates to begin breathing on their own, with attendant normalization of heart rate.
TraumaMan is a surgical simulation manikin used for teaching surgical skills, including the American College of Surgeons' Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) program, to medical professionals. TraumaMan is also used to advance surgical skills in combat situations.
MSR – The Israel Center for Medical Simulation is Israel's national institute for simulation-based medical education (SBME) and patient safety training. It is located at the Chaim Sheba Medical Center in the Tel HaShomer neighborhood of Ramat Gan, in the Tel Aviv District. MSR is internationally recognized as leader in patient safety simulation-based training.
