Partnerships
Laerdal Foundation Teams Up with CAPE to Enhance Simulation Training

FALL 2006 -- As one of the earliest examples of simulation training, Resusci-Annie, a lifesized mannequin used for teaching resuscitation, has been a mainstay at community CPR trainings for decades. Today, facilities such as the Center for Advanced Pediatric Education (CAPE) at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital are using sophisticated simulation technologies to train physicians, nurses, and other caregivers in a variety of acute medical situations. Now, Laerdal Medical, the company that first developed Resusci-Annie in the 1960s, and Laerdal Foundation for Acute Medicine have partnered with CAPE to further advance simulation training.

In January, the Laerdal Foundation for Acute Medicine awarded CAPE one of its prestigious 25th anniversary Center Support grants. Over the next three years, this $450,000 donation will support innovative research to assess the value of simulation-based training of health care providers in fetal, neonatal, pediatric, and obstetric medicine.

Laerdal began 65 years ago in Norway as a publishing company and evolved into a doll manufacturer. Founder Åsmund S. Laerdal's expertise in molding plastics and interest in emergency medicine led him to develop Resusci-Annie. Since then Laerdal has developed many portable devices used around the world for aiding in medical emergencies and teaching critical care skills.

In 2005, the Laerdal family and company celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Laerdal Foundation for Acute Medicine. The Foundation has fostered important advances in acute medicine through more than 1,400 grants for research and education and related support of simulation-based medical education.

CAPE's state-of-the-art simulation-based medical training program recreates an actual medical facility using working medical equipment, realistic patient simulators, and interactive human colleagues. CAPE director Lou Halamek, MD, and his team will use the Laerdal Foundation gift to compare traditional and simulation-based methods. Their research will investigate which visual, auditory, and tactile cues make a simulated medical environment the most realistic. They also will examine whether simulated or traditional training methods are more effective in increasing safety, reducing hospital costs, and improving communication in high-stress situations.