Amy Sebring: Welcome to the EIIP Tech Arena! Today we are featuring MUSTER: Multi-User System for Training Emergency Response. Amy Sebring: For the benefit of any first-timers, if you see a blue web address, you can click on it and the referenced Web page should appear in a browser window Amy Sebring: After the first one, the browser window may not automatically come to the top, so you may need to bring it forward by clicking on a button at the status bar at the bottom of your screen. Then you will need to bring your chat window back to the top in the same way. Amy Sebring: We will start with a presentation, and then follow with a Q&A session for your questions and comments. Right before we begin the Q&A portion we will review the procedure. Amy Sebring: Please do NOT send direct messages to the speaker or moderator as it makes it difficult for us to follow the discussion. Amy Sebring: Background information for today's session may be found at http://www.emforum.org/varena/001115.htm ... Amy Sebring: Now it is our pleasure to introduce the Regional Sales Manager for MUSTER-USA, Soren Beck. Amy Sebring: Soren Beck is an experienced teaching staff member working many years for educational institutions and with a background as Commander in the Royal Danish Navy. Amy Sebring: He has significant educational experience from the Danish Naval Academy where he introduced interactive education tools and use of the Internet. Amy Sebring: Welcome Soren, and thank you for taking the time to be with us today. Soren Beck: Thanks, MUSTER - Multi User System for Training Emergency Response - is a new simulation tool for training paramedics, doctors, nurses, EMTs, fire fighters, EMS personnel, decision-makers, etc. in disaster medicine. Soren Beck: In a disaster situation the decision-makers' abilities to cooperate are crucial to the success of the whole operation. MUSTER is a multi-user system that allows trainees to interact with one another ... Soren Beck: and thereby learn individual skills as well as coordinated performance as a part of a larger rescue team. "Experience is the best teacher"... Soren Beck: but as the number of disasters is low, it is important to use other means within emergency management to prepare rescue teams for coping with emergency situations. Soren Beck: Field exercises are very important but have limitations. They are expensive, difficult to organize and therefore too infrequent to satisfy the total need for training. Soren Beck: The need for a dynamic interactive training tool as a supplement to the field exercises is therefore evident. MUSTER satisfies this need. With MUSTER you can: Soren Beck: * design scenarios to your specific requirements and medical tools and standards... Soren Beck: * make simultaneous training of up to twenty persons... Soren Beck: * perform dynamic patient simulation... Soren Beck: * give extensive feed-back based on the build-in evaluation functions. Soren Beck: In some cases, drills may be completely replaced by MUSTER. In other cases, MUSTER can be used for preparation or evaluation of live/actual operations/exercises. Simulated training sessions in MUSTER are realistic, inexpensive and easy to arrange. Soren Beck: The core of the training simulation is the IVD (Intra Vascular Deficit) model. The IVD model is developed by doctors and simulates a patient's condition based on the injuries and treatment he or she receives. Soren Beck: The patients in a scenario can be defined individually. Each patient can suffer a combination of 100 different injuries on the body in three levels. Each injury can be a wound, fracture or a burn. Soren Beck: Each patent is also described by age, sex, weight, height, etc. This makes it possible to take into account the desired injury pattern for various accidents/disaster decisions, see slide 1: http://muster.hypermart.net/slide1.htm Soren Beck: And now to the actual software..... Soren Beck: The display is divided into four main areas: location, agents, resources and communication. Soren Beck: 1) The location indicates the position of the trainee. This can be the accident location, triage, treatment area, hospital, inside an ambulance, etc. Soren Beck: You can move patients between different locations, either walk, use stretchers, cars, ambulances, medevac helicopters, etc. Soren Beck: 2) Agents are members of the of the rescue team, doctors, paramedics, nurses, EMTs, rescuers, police officers, firechiefs, firefighters, civilians, etc. Each trainee takes the role of an agent. Soren Beck: 3) Resources are a list of medical tools, first-aid material, medicine, apparatus and other equipment. Soren Beck: 4) Communication will take place by using the radio- button, and messages can be written to individuals or everybody. Soren Beck: See also slide 2: http://muster.hypermart.net/slide2.htm Soren Beck: The training session: At the beginning of the training session each trainee is assigned a role, e.g. the coordinator/On- Scene-Commander", paramedic, EMT, helper, etc. Soren Beck: A typical session starts off with you being called to an accident. At the scene you are confronted with a number of injured people. Soren Beck: Depending on your role, you diagnose, prioritize, dress/undress, treat, move, etc. the injured. The ability to cooperate, prioritize, make the right diagnostic, and use the available resources is a very important factor. Soren Beck: The features to evaluate a patient are complete: palpate, dialogue with the patient, measurements, medical observations, classification, handling (move, raise, lay down), medical records, dress/undress, etc. Soren Beck: Measurements and observations include: blood pressure, respiratory quality/frequency, pulse, pupil response, skin, jugular veins, central venous pressure, urine production, and capillary response. Soren Beck: The list of medical tools available is complete and is only limited by your individual medical protocols. Soren Beck: A list of actors, medical tools and transports are listed here, slide 3: http://muster.hypermart.net/slide3.htm Soren Beck: The Supervisor: the instructor or teacher is controlling the session by the MUSTER Supervisor screen. The scenario database contains a selection of sessions depending on your training requirement and the trainees' education level. Soren Beck: The simulator can manage up to twenty trainees simultaneously. The Supervisor can closely follow the session, patient status, all actions made by the trainees and ... Soren Beck: can also pause the session, communicate to individuals or all via the communication panel, see slide 4: http://muster.hypermart.net/slide4.htm Soren Beck: Evaluation: one of the central elements in the MUSTER training software is the evaluation and debriefing features. Soren Beck: MUSTER has a log (with a time record) that records the agent's actions during the session, messages sent, etc. Soren Beck: When debriefing the trainees, the supervisor can easily reconstruct all actions and view and present them in an easy and clear way. Soren Beck: The IVD curves: the IVD-curves describes what is happening to the injured, expected life time with and without treatment, any improvement of IVD status made by the students/trainees, etc. Soren Beck: Injuries and Patient image: this is a complete picture of the patients with all the injuries, description of injuries etc., see slide 5: http://muster.hypermart.net/slide5.htm Soren Beck: This was a short presentation of what you can do with modern simulation software to enhance your EMS training... Soren Beck: MUSTER version 1 has been on the market for a year and an improved version (version 2) will be released January 2001. Mid- 2001 we expect an Internet-based version (MUSTER 2.5) to be released. Soren Beck: As an appreciation of your interest for MUSTER we can offer a five-user version of MUSTER for a very attractive price... Soren Beck: A five-user version of MUSTER version 1.2 for only $450, but without scenario support... Soren Beck: - or MUSTER version 2 (5-user) for $985, inclusive one- year support. The support includes 20 hours operational and technical support, modification of scenarios to yours medical protocols, etc.... Soren Beck: However, these prices are far under retail prices and will only be valid until end of next week, and only for people or organizations participating in this online EMS forum. Soren Beck: Please e-mail me at beck@idt.net or go to our Website: http://muster.hypermart.net and e-mail me from here. I am now ready for questions! Amy Sebring: Thank you Soren. Audience please enter a question mark (?) to indicate you wish to be recognized, go ahead and compose your comment or question, but wait for recognition before hitting the enter key or clicking on Send. Amy Sebring: We now invite your questions/comments. Kevin Farrell: ? Amy Sebring: Kevin, when you are ready please. Kevin Farrell: It appears that the product is used to train using medical treatment protocols... Avagene Moore: ? Kevin Farrell: does the product scale to train in other areas, such as command and control? David Crews: ? Soren Beck: MUSTER was made for training coordination. The patient mode is only a part of the software … Soren Beck: This is why it is a MULTI-USER software... Isabel McCurdy: ? Soren Beck: You really need to have 5-20 users training together to get the benefit of this software. Amy Sebring: Avagene next please. Avagene Moore: In my former life as the local EM director and working closely with hospitals and EMS, I can see the value of this training tool. What kind of learning curve is involved in getting all players up to speed? Is there a tutorial with the product? Amy Sebring: ? Soren Beck: It takes one session and 15-30 minutes to get used to the graphical user interface... Soren Beck: It was our users (hospitals, paramedics, etc.) who designed the user interface. Soren Beck: We have an extensive manual, we prefer also to provide support and help for the first on-line session. Amy Sebring: David next please. David Crews: Has there been any thought of making this an operational management tool in the field under actual conditions? A palm top computer with wireless technology could make it a reality by relaying the info to hospitals, EOC, ICS etc. Soren Beck: We have so far been reluctant to use it for operational management... Soren Beck: It will take extensive testing to do this... Soren Beck: So far we have concentrated on the learning features, and will most likely stick to that. Amy Sebring: Isabel next please. Isabel McCurdy: Soren Re: transport. Do they include passenger cars, police vehicles, etc? So often during a crisis people are transported by alternate means and this has implications for the emergency response community. Kevin Farrell: ? Soren Beck: Yes, this is why you also can play police officer, journalist and civilians.... Soren Beck: because they are a part of real life actions you have to take into account in any situation. Amy Sebring: Soren, what improvements will be included in version 2.0? Soren Beck: Graphical user interface, we now support burn wounds.... Soren Beck: in addition to fracture and wounds... Soren Beck: palpate, medical treatment and airways is also improvements. Amy Sebring: Kevin next please. Kevin Farrell: Very well, we have seen the medical protocol segment, but what about hazmat or NBC events. Anything there for decon, control and containment, firefighting, rescue, command and control, resource management, public information, evacuation, and so forth? Roger Fritzel: ? Soren Beck: Yes, the first version of MUSTER was for paramedics, now also hospitals.... Soren Beck: now we have an order to deliver MUSTER for general emergency management... Soren Beck: including police, civil defense, military, government, EMS, etc... Gil Gibbs: ? Soren Beck: everything will build up in modules, and be on the market in 2 years. Derri Hanson: ? Amy Sebring: Roger next please. Roger Fritzel: My question is similar to Kevin's. Specifically, can individuals be trained to handle the kind of injuries arising from chemical warfare agents? And be trained to avoid contamination that might be present on the victims? Amy Sebring: ? Soren Beck: Yes, there has been significant interest for these areas... David Crews: ?! Soren Beck: and because you can make your own scenarios, MUSTER can do this also. Amy Sebring: Gil next please. Gil Gibbs: Does your set of equipment include the use of latex gloves? I didn't see them in the list. Soren Beck: No, but they can be added like any other medical tools! Amy Sebring: Derri next please. Derri Hanson: What about a version for NGO's involved in Emergency Management. Isabel McCurdy: ? Soren Beck: We have delivered MUSTER to WHO in Nepal... Soren Beck: we can discuss arrangements with NGOs. Amy Sebring: Soren, in your normal package, are future upgrades included, or is there a separate maintenance plan available? Soren Beck: Version 1.2 included free upgrades to MUSTER 2.... Kevin Farrell: ? Soren Beck: in addition we have a small annual support fee to make sure that our customers get the help needed. Amy Sebring: David next please. David Crews: This looks like a great training tool. I was also taught "train the same as you are going to respond" That's why my comment on this as an operational tool. With continuing technological advances this looks like it has a lot of potential. Amy Sebring: Would you like to respond to David's comment Soren? Soren Beck: We hope for an Internet version this summer! Soren Beck: This will eliminate the need for transport, time, cost etc... Soren Beck: but there are some operational hurdles we need to overcome. Amy Sebring: Isabel next please. Isabel McCurdy: Is MUSTER being used in any Canadian settings? Soren: Not yet, we are in negotiations with a few! Amy Sebring: Kevin is next please. Kevin Farrell: Is the product windows specific, or is it available to non-windows platforms? Will the Internet version be platform independent running through a web browser? Soren: Windows 98, 2000, NT, Mac, Linux! Kevin Farrell: WooHoo!! Soren: The software is written in JAVA and therefore Internet ready (technical). Amy Sebring: ? Amy Sebring: Soren, I realize you would lose the coordination features .. Amy Sebring: but can this be run as a single user training without a Supervisor? Avagene Moore: ? Soren: The single user version also has the supervisor function... Soren: so you have in reality two functions in this version also, the actor (trainee) and the supervisor. Amy Sebring: Ok, so does that mean there must be a Supervisor participating to run it? Soren: Yes, but that will be you too in the single user version … Soren: this version is mostly for practicing the patient model. Amy Sebring: Avagene is next please. Avagene Moore: Has your product been on the market long enough to get feedback from users? If so, can you share any overall evaluations or reactions to the training received? Soren: Yes.... Soren: and we are in constant dialogue with the users and.... Soren: improving the software based on these inputs... Soren: but most improvements are handled by modifying the scenarios. Soren: Please call me if you have any other questions (beck@idt.net, 703-765-8357) Amy Sebring: Thank you very much Soren for being with us today. We very much appreciate your time and effort. Please stand by a moment while we take care of some business. Amy Sebring: We will have a text transcript posted later today, and reformatted versions with links to the slides at the end of the week. Avagene can you tell us what is on for next week please? Avagene Moore: Thank you, Amy. Soren, on behalf of the EIIP, we appreciate your time and effort in this fine presentation. We wish you the best with your product. Avagene Moore: Next week, Wednesday November 22, 12:00 Noon EST, our featured speaker is Dr. Joanne McGlown who is online with us today. Avagene Moore: Joanne is an Asst. Professor at Jacksonville State University in Alabama and also does hospital / emergency medical consulting work. (I am sure she is interested in MUSTER, Soren.) Avagene Moore: Joanne will share information about the "New JCAHO Emergency Management Standards for Health Care Facilities." Avagene Moore: Make your plans to join us next week. That all for now, Amy. Amy Sebring: Thanks Ava. If you are not on our mailing list and would like to receive weekly notices and our newsletter, please see http://www.speccomm.com:81/guest/RemoteListSummary/EIIP to subscribe. Amy Sebring: Thanks to all our participants today. We will adjourn the session for now, but you are welcome to remain for open discussion. You no longer need to use question marks. Please help us express our appreciation to Soren for today's presentation.