You’ve never seen anything as lifelike as this before

Britain’s elite Military Medical teams (Special Forces) have helped to design a revolutionary lifelike manikin as part of intensive training to save lives at sea. The Special Forces Team, which is part of the Royal Navy and which traces its origins back to the Second World War, has been training with the world’s first Advanced Water Rescue manikin.

Europe’s leading manufacturer of rescue training manikins, Ruth Lee Ltd, which is exhibiting at Seawork for the first time this year, has teamed up with Lifecast Body Simulation to create the world’s first Advanced Water Rescue manikin. The RNLI, Bristow Search and Rescue, the UK’s search and rescue helicopter service, several Ambulance Hazardous Area Response Paramedic teams and also the Maritime Skills Academy, have all supported the development of the manikin with rigorous testing and trials.

Highly accurate and lifelike, the hybrid rescue and medical simulation manikin is a step change in realism for the rescue training industry. Manikins which have similar advanced medical simulation capabilities frequently cost in excess of £75k, but you certainly couldn’t risk them in open water!

The Advanced Water Rescue manikin is designed to mimic a drowned person in water and delivers realistic medical simulation training which prepares rescuers for the real world. No other rescue manikin provides this level of fidelity (Realism), with opportunities to practise rescue skills, coupled with continuation of care to the Hospital and Intensive Care.

The Advanced Water Rescue manikin floats like an unconscious person but can also be weighted to partially or fully sink to increase the realism of rescue. When in water, hydrostatic squeeze (pressure of the water) closes a valve within the lung mechanics. Once rescued from water, the mechanism releases, creating movement of the lungs and chest.

The manikin has patented technology and took two years of research and development to perfect. Drowning casualties present with very specific symptoms which must be carefully managed for a successful outcome, including pulmonary oedema and crackling sounds from the chest, plus the production of frothy sputum from the mouth or nose – both of which can be very alarming for rescuers. Experiencing these phenomena in a simulation can help to prepare them mentally for the real-life experience.

Paul McDonnell, Managing Director of Ruth Lee, which is based in Corwen, North Wales, said: “Special Forces teams asked us to create a world first drowning manikin for them to allow both rescue and critical care training.

“Our innovative product, made in collaboration with Lifecast Body Simulation – Based in Elstree Movie Studios – London, is the first to allow teams to provide true continuation of care.

“It has been specially designed to be rescued from water and allows for lifesaving intervention with the realism of noises and respiratory issues encountered in the real world. It means rescue teams can be trained for the skills they will need in the real world.”

“Interest and uptake of the manikin has been fantastic, and it is now in use with rescue and medical teams worldwide, including the US and Australian Armed Forces, French Coastguard and in universities across the UK.”

Liz Baugh, who worked for the Royal Navy and is now lead medical consultant at Red Square Medical, which provides medical services for the maritime sector, said: “I’ve never seen anything like this before. Usually we simulate resuscitation on normal manikins in a classroom environment and simulate man overboard rescues with a manikin in the water, and there’s no link up between the two.

“This manikin enhances our training dramatically not just from the perspective of how it feels to lift a real weight out of the water, but what’s it’s like to resuscitate a realistically feeling body. Because he is so realistic, it adds an additional layer of emotional reaction on top. Bringing this level of realism to my crew is going to enhance their reactions and their responses.”

See the world-first drowning simulation manikin, the Advanced Water Rescue Manikin,  with Ruth Lee, the leading manufacturer of Rescue Training manikins, at Seawork.