3D Printed Medical Manikins Become Effective Training Aids for Respiratory Swab Collection
With the COVID-19 pandemic where patients far outnumber the medical personnel, an urgent need has risen globally to furnish essential medical supplies to front-line healthcare workers who are at the center of all of this. In a scramble where demand far outstrips supply, 3D printing has steadily risen to the fore in addressing the shortfalls.
COVID-19 is proving to be an inflection point for 3D printing, where it leads the way in its ability to move directly from design to on-demand production for rapid production of essential medical supplies like nasal swabs, ventilators, face shield frames, and medical devices.
As we adjust to the new normal in the fight against COVID-19 in Singapore, there is a growing and urgent need to train more swabbers to support and ramp up wider swab testing efforts in the unprecedented times.
Swab tests form an integral part of the fight against COVID-19 as it determines whether a person is infected. Typically, it involves the insertion of a swab through the nasal cavity or mouth to the back of the nose and throat, and swabbing the walls by gently rotating the swab to collect specimens.
In Singapore, training for swab collection is carried out by many health professionals who have voluntarily taken time off to selected civilians who often do not possess medical knowledge. Existing medical manikins in the market are deemed lacking representative features to facilitate the execution of these three essential procedures:
- Nasal mid-turbinate swab
- Nasopharyngeal swab
- Oropharyngeal swab
A front-line training organization approached Creatz3D, a Singapore-based 3D printing solutions provider, to produce life-sized 3D medical manikins that could simulate swab collection scenarios. Special care was taken by our Creatz3D’s Sales and Applications Manager, Sally, to understand the requirements effectively for the project to kick off.
Roping in its sister company, AuMed, a bespoke medical simulator company, Senior Biomedical Engineer, Catherine, then designed the manikin using several anatomical 3D models derived from AuMed’s CT and MRI library, before fusing them into one big piece using Materialise’s Mimics Innovation Suite (MIS) Medical.
At the same time, there was constant feedback and suggestions from the ENT doctors/clinicians working in local hospitals in creating this model, to resolve the inaccuracies of existing manikins in the markets that were also expensive and limited in quantity. After 2 rounds of intense modifications, we managed to come out with manikins that can be used for both nasal and throat swab collection training and hands-on.
Most of the manikins out there are usually opaque, either for throat or nasal training, with each costing from 3,000 USD. Now with the 3D printed manikin, training can be integrated with 1 mobile and 1 compact size model at the price (or lower, depending on quantity) of 1 typical manikin, within a minimal turnaround time of 5 to 7 working days.
The 3D printed manikins also presented opportunities to train more effectively alongside the existing training materials and arrangements (training slides, hands-on sessions, etc.). Compare to the available general manikins (e.g. for airway simulation), the 3D printed manikins targeted the crucial anatomies specifically for the respiratory swab collection.
Previously considered as a black box, the 3D printed manikins provided these training enhancements:
- Observation of the nasal, mouth, and throat internal structures which are otherwise not possible with a real person being swabbed.
- Enabling the trainers to demonstrate the procedures clearly and highlight special cautions to ensure safer execution of swab collection, using standard medical-grade swabs.
- Encouragement of interactions between the trainers and trainees by referring to the same tangible 3D printed manikin.
At a glance
Nasal mid-turbinate swab
Nasopharyngeal swab
Oropharyngeal swab aka throat swab
Feedback from users was promising with many impressed by the bounceable tongue for simulation with a tongue depressor, and the crucial anatomies (e.g. turbinates, pharynx, and uvula) as indicators for performing the swab collection. Most importantly, the manikins were in real-life size, perfect for standard medical-grade swab sticks to be used. Further design improvement has already started on the 3D printed medical manikin thanks to the users’ feedback.
Ultimately, this crisis has highlighted how 3D printing is capable of stepping up to adapt to the needs of users in producing badly-needed essentials on demand with short turnaround time.
If you have any inquiries, our team is on standby to engage with you for an in-depth discussion about your COVID-19 project – via the contact form, info@creatz3d.com, or call +65 6631 8555.
Demo Video