A developer of health education and research software is joining with a mannequin manufacturer to launch a debriefing system for evaluating medical education simulations.

SimVentures, a collaboration between Nashville, Tenn.-based healthcare software maker HealthStream and Norwegian medical mannequin company Laerdal Medical, have introduced SimView, a product that captures video, audio, data logs, and simulated patient responses for live observation or retroactive review of medical simulations. The companies unveiled the debriefing system at the just-concluded International Meeting for Simulation in Healthcare in San Diego.

SimView is part of a year-old suite called SimCenter that also includes the SimManager app for managing simulation training programs, the SimDeveloper toolkit for building simulation content, and SimStore, which HealthStream spokeswoman Mollie Condra described as "like iTunes for simulation training," where users can buy and sell content. "All of these things are integrated," Condra told InformationWeek Healthcare, helping reduce the amount of training required to use the technology.

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Scenarios must be loaded up and instructors assigned for a simulation, Condra explained. "There's a whole range of logistics involved in organizing such a program," she said.

SimVentures also released results of a survey it conducted with about 900 healthcare educators. According to the survey, 94% of those who make use of advanced patient simulators believe it is important for a simulator to "capture high-quality simulation videos that run clearly and smoothly," SimVentures reported. However, just 38% of respondents who record simulation data are able to capture videos.

The new SimView system records video from as many as four IP or analog cameras and a microphone, and also pulls in data from the patient simulator's event log. Instructors can annotate the logs with their observations, according to the companies. SimView creates a single debriefing file with time indexes. "It is synchronized with what's going on with the mannequin," Condra said.

Examples of simulations the system can track include advanced airway management, basic and advanced trauma life support, cardiac circulatory diagnoses, peripheral venous access, and wound care, according to Condra.

"Capturing data through SimView significantly enhances students' learning opportunities in a risk-free, realistic training environment, contributing to their organizations' overall goal of maintaining a well-trained workforce to deliver excellent patient care," HealthStream president and CEO Robert A. Frist Jr. said in a statement. Frist is the grandson of HCA founder Dr. Thomas Frist Sr., and nephew of former U.S. Sen. Dr. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), though publicly traded HealthStream has no connection to HCA.

Condra said that HealthStream supplies learning systems for half of the nation's hospitals.

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