Alternatives Database

Virtual Anesthesia Machine

The Virtual Anesthesia Machine program simulates the inner workings of an anaesthesia machine and ventilator - the complex machinery in which oxygen, nitrous oxide and anaesthetics mix to render patients insensitive to pain during surgery and other procedures. The designers’ goal is to increase patient safety by arming the next generation of anaesthetists with a clear understanding of the flow of gas within the equipment and the consequences of machine malfunctions or user actions on pressures, flows, and volumes and composition of gases in the anaesthesia machine. The Virtual Anesthesia Machine depicts lungs, dials, gas canisters, pipes, ventilator settings and anaesthetic agents. Colour-coded circles flow through the pipes to represent molecules of oxygen, carbon dioxide, air, volatile anaesthetics and nitrous oxide. Dials can be adjusted, valves opened and closed, and rates and directions of gas flow changed. Just as significantly, users are allowed to adjust the controls improperly - for example, excessively inflating the lungs - and therefore can learn from their mistakes. Equipment faults also can be simulated.

Language: Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Dutch, English, Farsi, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Polish, Portugese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, Turkish; other languages to be added in the future http://vam.anest.ufl.edu/ Medium: Availible for on-line use System requirements: Windows 95/98/2000/NT, Macintosh Price: US$100 annual fee aceess for individuals, US$50 annual fee aceess for 25 or more subscriptions