12 Must-Have Simulation Tools for Preparing Students for Emergency Scenarios

This article highlights 12 essential simulation tools that help medical and nursing students prepare for real-life emergencies by practicing critical procedures in safe, controlled environments.

What you’ll learn:

• How tracheostomy and central line kits train airway and vascular care

• Why ostomy kits and wound care tools build patient management skills

• The role of manikins and defibrillator trainers in emergency response

• How IV kits, stethoscopes, and BP simulators support everyday practice

• The benefits of VR simulators for immersive training experiences

• How health assessment kits ensure comprehensive patient evaluation

Medical and nursing students must know how to handle real-world emergencies when working in hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare settings where they treat patients. Traditional textbook training and lecturing will never fully prepare students on how to respond to an emergency, such as cardiac arrest.

The best way to prepare students for these real-life emergencies is to have them practice with essential simulation tools that mimic the experience of a real emergency. The more a student practices with simulation tools, the more they will learn how to handle urgent care situations after they become medical professionals.

Below are the top 12 simulation tools that can prepare medical and nursing students for real-life emergency scenarios.

1) Tracheostomy Care Kits

A tracheostomy care kit treats obstructions in the upper airways caused by infections, trauma, or blockage due to mucus accumulation. Patients who suffer prolonged airway obstructions can develop hypoxia or even death.

A typical tracheostomy care kit may include:

• Tray

• Medical gloves

• Gauzes

• Catheter tube

• Brush

• Tape

The simulation will involve practicing techniques to clear obstructions and maintain a sterile environment, thereby protecting patients from infections. Tracheostomy care kits help prepare students for the real-world experience of suctioning, cleaning, and replacing the tubes that provide direct access to the lungs through the airways.

2) Central Line Kits

Many emergencies require medical professionals to administer blood, fluids, or medication through a central line to the patient’s heart. Students can learn to save a patient’s life by perfecting the technique of inserting and utilizing a central line in specific emergencies.

Central line kits allow students to practice and gain experience treating patients in this manner. Practice is important because even a small mistake could cause the patient to develop a clot or sepsis.

A central line kit may include the following items:

• Tray

• Vinyl gloves

• Catheter

• Mask

• Swab sticks

• Gauze

• Plastic tape

• Dressing

Students can use these tools to practice the technique of inserting central venous catheters, a crucial skill for administering life-saving treatments.

3) Ostomy Kits

An ostomy is a surgical procedure in which the surgeon creates an opening in the abdominal area to allow bodily waste, such as urine and stool, to exit the body. This procedure is necessary to treat a particular medical condition that impairs the functionality of the urinary or digestive systems. A patient could suffer dehydration, infection, and severe emotional and physical discomfort if they remove the urine and waste from their body.

Ostomy kits provide simulated tools to help medical and nursing students treat patients who have already undergone ostomy surgery. Students can use the kits to practice stoma pouch changes, skin protection, and leak prevention.

An ostomy kit may have the following items:

• Drainable pouch

• Skin protective wipes

• Adhesive remover wipes

• Ostomy measuring tool

• Curved tail closure

• Ostomy flange

Students will learn to relieve the pain and discomfort of patients after acquiring skills and experience in ostomy management.

4) Simulated Code Medications

Many medical professionals responding to emergencies, such as nurses, will need to quickly administer the proper medications to patients to relieve their pain or save their lives. Nurses not only need to know which medications to use, but also the correct dosage amounts to administer. One small mistake or miscalculation could be fatal to a patient.

Simulated code medications can help nursing students train for these situations. They are simulation products designed to mimic real-life medications. Everything, from the packaging to the labeling, is designed to resemble what medical professionals see every day.

Students can learn to become more confident when practicing with simulated code medications to treat critical healthcare situations. Epinephrine or amiodarone are two examples of mimicked medications found in simulated code medications.

5) Manikins

Manikins are essential simulation tools for practicing their treatment techniques on patients. There are low-fidelity and high-fidelity manikins made to resemble actual human patients. Students can easily practice various treatments on manikins as if they were real patients, including airway management, IV insertions, pulse checking, heart rate monitoring, wound care, medication administration, and more.

High-fidelity manikins are more expensive simulation tools, but they also offer more realism. They feature more realistic internal components, with some manikins even simulating bleeding and other responses to treatments administered to them. Low-fidelity manikins may look less realistic, but they can fulfill basic training needs.

6) IV Maintenance Kits

IV maintenance kits help medical and nursing students practice in realistic situations where IV-related treatments are necessary. They contain all the essential tools for administering fluids, medications, and blood through a shorter and thinner catheter than a central line.

The IV kit includes:

• Syringes

• IV lines

• Saline solutions

• Needles

Students can learn to locate veins and implement troubleshooting procedures for IV insertion, monitoring, and treatment.

7) Defibrillator Trainers

Defibrillator trainers simulate the features of actual automated external defibrillator devices used in hospital and clinical settings. Students training with these simulated devices can practice dealing with sudden cardiac arrest scenarios in patients without delivering real electric shocks. Instead, they will provide simulated shocks to learn the protocols regarding heart rhythm management.

8) Stethoscope

A reusable stethoscope is a necessity for all medical and nursing students. They will need extensive practice in listening to patients’ heart rates and breathing activity, whether in an emergency or during a general examination.

Using the stethoscope in conjunction with a manikin or a simulated human patient is the best way for students to gain extensive experience using this very common health evaluation instrument.

9) Wound Care Kits

Many emergencies involve treating wounds, such as burns, cuts, and gunshots. Students must practice treating these kinds of wounds with the most proficient and realistic wound care kits available.

Wound care kits can address a variety of wound types. In general, a wound care kit should have the following items:

• Gloves

• Surgical Tape

• Saline Solution

• Sutures

• Suture Removal Kit

• Wound Irritation Tip

• Wound Closure

• Gauze Bandage

• Staple Removal Pad

Students can use these tools to gain experience in treating various life-threatening wounds, stopping their bleeding, and preventing contamination and infection.

10) VR Emergency Simulators

Virtual reality technology has now become integrated into emergency medical simulation training. Schools can utilize VR to transport students into a virtual clinical simulation, where they can practice performing any medical or nursing procedure imaginable.

Since it is a virtual world, there is no need to acquire physical medical supplies or patients for training purposes. You can customize the virtual world to teach your students whatever you want them to learn about healthcare and medicine.

11) Blood Pressure Cuff Simulator

The blood pressure cuff simulator is a device to teach students how to listen to and read blood pressure measurements. The simulator allows you to preset it to various systolic and diastolic pressures ranging from 0 to 300 mmHg. Students will learn how to discover preset results, enabling them to apply this knowledge in real-world situations in the future.

12) Health Assessment Kit

The health assessment kit contains multiple tools for performing comprehensive health assessments on patients to help determine their present health status. Students will use the kit to learn how to evaluate a patient’s reflexes, blood pressure, heart rate, and other vital signs.

Some of the things you might find in a health assessment kit may include:

• Reflex hammer

• Blood pressure cuff

• Penlight

• Shears

• Tuning fork

Every health assessment kit is different. Consider customizing your own if you want to teach specific lessons on how to perform physical examinations on patients.

Get Your Medical Simulation Tools Today!

Pristine Medical is the premier provider of high-quality simulation tools for preparing medical and nursing students for emergencies. They have everything you need to get started teaching your emergency response lessons.