‘Not the basic ABC of how you control a blood vessel’: perceptions of UK Defence Medical Services personnel toward live tissue training for the surgical management of trauma
C S Swain, M G Harjani, G Helgesson, R F Rickard, K KarlgrenIntroduction
‘Live tissue training’ (LTT) is simulation using live anaesthetized animals as human patient substitutes. The educational benefits specific to LTT are unclear. This study aimed to explore the perceptions and attitudes of UK Defence Medical Services (DMS) personnel toward the use of LTT in the surgical management of trauma.
Methods
Five virtual focus groups were conducted, with 20 regular and reservist DMS personnel representing surgical specialties, anesthesia, emergency medicine and primary care. Participants discussed their experiences of LTT and the impact on their professional development. Systematic text condensation was used to thematically analyze transcribed data.
Results
Six themes were constructed, titled: (1) LTT: Who should do it and when; (2) conducting LTT as a military team; (3) psychomotor learning; (4) affective learning; (5) fidelity; (6) ethics and justification . Differences in perspectives were noted for prehospital and secondary care learners - LTT is used to individually train primary care personnel and military medics in basic, initial trauma management skills; secondary care personnel consider LTT a ‘finishing school’ for experienced clinicians to practice rare and high-risk procedures, within a military team setting.
Conclusion
DMS personnel report positively about LTT, consider it to be realistic (higher fidelity) simulation training, and have educational and moral rationales to justify its use. The educational attributes of LTT appear to be context-specific and dependent on DMS learner role. This knowledge should influence the design and delivery of military trauma simulation involving live animals, allowing for replacement, reduction and refinement in their use for training different cohorts of learners.
Level of evidence
6 – qualitative research.