Operative Experience Inc. makes hands-in-the-body medical simulators for obstetrics, trauma and surgical training. These healthcare simulation manikins are characterized by high anatomic fidelity and life-like tissue that can be incised, sutured and retracted using standard surgical instruments.
Headquartered in North East, Maryland, Operative Experience Inc.’s mission is to revolutionize surgical and medical team training. Using these high-fidelity simulation makins, and with a rigorous experiential instructional paradigm, OEI works to reduce training costs while increasing training effectiveness and retention. The company is dedicated to applying this medical simulation technology throughout the continuum of care, from tactical operations in the field to emergency procedures in the operating room.
Operative Experience Inc. is constantly considering research and partnerships that can expand the company’s surgical product line. For procedures that destroy tissue, OEI either provides modular replacements, cost effective refurbishments or low cost task trainers. Task trainers enable repetitive cost effective practice to proficiency in a surgical component, prior to a more expansive surgery. Orientation and on-site training is also available.
Operative Experience Inc. History
Operative Experience Inc. was founded by Robert F. Buckman, Jr., M.D. an internationally- known surgeon and inventor of medical technology. Over the course of a long career as a trauma surgeon, Buckman ran a busy trauma center, has been deployed as a combat trauma surgeon, conducted extensive trauma research and received more than a dozen U.S. patents.
These experiences and his interest in surgical education led him to investigate and discover materials that would react surgically like human tissue. These materials could then be incised, retracted and sutured for healthcare simulation purposes and to establish patient safety.
Following years of prototype development and testing, a collaboration with materials expert Jeffrey Ellis led to the creation of the world’s first physical patient simulators. These medical simulators meant major surgical hands-in-the-body operations could be performed using standard surgical instruments. In the years to come, a series of small Business Innovation Research grants from the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command capitalized the company and enabled OEI to advance and expand product development.
Since then, Operative Experience has entered into a strategic partnership with leading medical device manufacturer, 3B Scientific, as a worldwide marketing and sales partner outside of North and Latin America. 3B Scientific creates products that advance the delivery of medical, healthcare and scientific education with a focus on innovative solutions. 3B Scientific aims at guaranteeing customer success based on unprecedented quality, realism and a global support network in over 100 countries. The medical simulation conference IMSH from the Society for Simulation in Healthcare is a great place to check out OEI’s patient simulator products in person.
In 2016, OEI’s chairman, Lou Oberndorf, was presented with the 3rd annual Pioneer in Simulation Award by the Society for Simulation in Healthcare (SSH) at the society’s annual IMSH conference. The award recognizes Oberndorf for his leadership in the industrialization of the human patient simulator, as well as his other significant contributions to the healthcare simulation industry.
Additionally, Operative Experience Inc. has worked with U.S. Agency of International Development’s program, Saving Lives at Birth, to deliver learners the c-section training systems on fully operative, anatomically correct, simulated pregnant women with obstructed labor, and provide the basic instruments needed to perform the surgery. The obstructed labor simulator training plans to be tested in the United States, and validation through studies in Africa prior to deployment.
Click Here to Connect to Leading Healthcare Simulation Vendors Like Operative Experience Inc
Operative Experience Inc. Medical Simulation Products
Operative Experience Inc. offers three categories of products: labor and delivery, surgical and tactical. Part of a complete and fully integrated labor and delivery suite, OEI’s RealMom 2.0 is the latest generation of a lifelike vaginal child birth simulator. The RealMom birthing simulator offers life-identical soft tissue and skin, a natural active birth canal with automated dilation and fetal station and accurate internal anatomy.
Next, the Fetal Extraction Simulator is designed for clinicians and learners to experience and practice difficult deliveries such as suction assist and forceps. Then the Postpartum Hemorrhage Control trainer can be used to practice various hemorrhage control techniques. The medical simulator comes with an integrated pressurized bleeding system for repair of complex lacerations and uterine artery injuries.
Another product that is part of the labor and delivery suite is Operative Experience Inc.’s Emergency Hysterectomy Trainer. This healthcare simulator supports hemorrhage control and fully operable removal of the uterus. The Emergency Hysterectomy Trainer includes an integrated bleeding system with a durable, flaccid, abdominal wall insert, and an attachable, partially contracted uterus. Additionally, the Emergency C-Section Delivery Simulator allows trainees to practice full transverse or vertical emergency C-Sections through the abdominal wall and uterus.
Operative Experience Inc.’s surgical products focus on open surgery, with hands-in-the-body simulators for surgical and medical team training. For example, OEI’s Damage Control Laparotomy Simulator is a fully-operative damage control surgical skills simulator. The product comes with realistic, soft-tissue organs such as a spleen bowels and liver. The Damage Control Laparotomy Simulator can be incised, dissected retracted and sutured using standard surgical instruments.
The Craniotomy Simulator is a subdural hematoma surgery and ventriculostomy trainer that supports the subdural hematoma surgery and ventriculostomy on the right and left skull. Simulating the lower leg, the Fasciotomy Leg is a two incision, four compartment surgical product.
As for tactical simulators, Operative Experience Inc. creates super-realistic, point-of-injury casualty care training for comprehensive Tactical Combat Casualty Care preparation. First, the Tactical Casualty Care Simulator Plus is a male military grade, high-fidelity medical simulator that can teach hemorrhage control, endotracheal tube placement and intubation, respiratory decompression and more.
Conforming to the Joint Trauma System (JTS), Center of Excellence and Deployment Medicine training standards this medical simulator offers medical provider-;evel prolonged field care training and comprehensive all-combatant TCCC training. There is also a female version (Female Trauma Care Simulator) of this human patient simulator available, which similarly offers comprehensive tactical combat casualty care, but with an anatomically accurate female patient.
Numbered one through five, Operative Experience Inc. also developed high-fidelity adult male simulation manikins designed to train learners on specific combat injuries. The first represents an who has a gunshot wound, the second represents an with a major vascular injury. Tactical Casualty Care Simulator 3 is a full-sized ruggedized simulator for training traumatic amputation injuries. The fourth version simulates the victim of a traumatic gunshot wound and amputation injuries, and the fifth version represents a victim of abdominal wounds with evisceration.
Completing Operative Experience Inc.’s tactical suite, the Tactical Hemorrhage Control Trainer is a full-sized, remotely-activated simulator designed for point-of-injury, tactical medicine training for law enforcement and first responders. The full-body manikin features anatomically-accurate soft tissue, ruggedized and water-resistant material and remotely-activated pulsatile bleeding capabilities.
