Introduction/background: The incidence of complications and number of critically ill patients in hyperbaric medicine is relatively low [1]. This poses a challenge to those tasked with educating trainees as well as maintaining the skills of staff. Hyperbaric medicine fellows may not be exposed to critical patient scenarios or complications of hyperbaric medicine during a one-year fellowship. Additional staff may be unfamiliar with these situations as well. The purpose of hyperbaric simulation curriculum is to train health care providers for rare situations. To our knowledge, this hyperbaric simulation curriculum is the first published use of simulation education in the specialty of undersea and hyperbaric medicine.
Materials and methods: Two simulation cases have been developed that involve a patient with oxygen toxicity during hyperbaric treatment as well as an ICU patient with mucous plugging.
Results: Medical training simulations are an effective method of teaching content and training multiple roles in Undersea and Hyperbaric Medicine.
Summary/conclusions: A hyperbaric simulation curriculum is an achievable educational initiative that is able to train multiple team members simultaneously in situations that they may not encounter on a regular basis. We believe that this could be easily exported to otherinstitutions for further education.
Keywords: CNS toxicity; education; hyperbaric medicine; hyperbaric oxygen; hyperbaric oxygen therapy; hyperbaric research; mucous plugging; simulation; toxicity.
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