EMS World Expo: Attendees Practice Hands-On Skills in Procedural Cadaver Lab

No matter how lifelike training manikins become, there’s no substitute for the look and feel of actual human tissue when practicing intubation, tourniquet application, IO access, and other EMS skills.

During preconference sessions at EMS World Expo 2018 in Nashville Oct. 30, Teleflex hosted the Prehospital Emergency Care Procedural Cadaver Lab, providing a unique opportunity for workshop attendees to review relevant anatomy associated with critical care and lifesaving emergency procedures.

Jim Blosser, laboratory manager for Teleflex—a Pennsylvania-based global manufacturer of medical technologies—began the workshop with a dignified moment of silence for the donors who made the day possible. Through the Genesis Legacy Whole Body Donation Foundation, in exclusive partnership with the Medical Education & Research Institute (MERI), willing donors can bequeath their bodies for the advancement of science.

MERI is a Memphis, Tenn.-based nonprofit teaching and bioskills lab for physicians, nurses, EMS, and other medical professionals.

Attendees were issued gowns, gloves, and head and footwear covers, and assigned to one of a dozen learning stations. EMS medical directors and providers served as faculty members at each table. With the internal anatomy of the cadavers exposed, participants took turns gaining real-time visual feedback on intubation, ventilation quality, and IO access via actual tissue engagement.

“This is the best training they’ve ever had, except on live tissue,” said Will Williamson of the Genesis program.

MERI hosts roughly eight such labs and workshops yearly for medical professionals across disciplines, Williamson added. Following a round of workshops, the body of the donor is returned to loved ones within 3–6 months.

“It’s an experience that’s maybe once in a lifetime for these folks,” Blosser said of the interest level and feedback he hears among lab attendees. Many attendees return multiple times, he added, gaining something new each time.

This is the fourth year Teleflex has sponsored the lab at EMS World Expo.