Mihaela Visoiu, MD, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine and Site Director for Acute Pain and Regional Anesthesia at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, takes center stage in a recent feature by Pitt Med Magazine. The article sheds light on groundbreaking collaborations between medical professionals and University of Pittsburgh engineering students, showcasing their joint efforts to tackle intricate design challenges.
The article “Ideas to Reality” uses a comic strip to vividly portray a project spearheaded by Dr. Visoiu and collaborators at UPMC Children’s, UPMC Radiology, and Pitt Bioengineering. The team designed a high-fidelity, ultrasound-guided neonatal caudal epidural catheter block simulator with realistic haptic and visual feedback. The simulator successfully models a newborn baby’s anatomical features and is the first of its kind.
The simulator's significance lies in its potential to revolutionize medical education, offering clinicians an invaluable tool to enhance their familiarity, confidence, and success rates in performing advanced blocks on neonates. By providing a realistic and immersive training environment, it aims to elevate the proficiency of clinicians before they undertake these delicate procedures. Furthermore, the simulator addresses a critical need by aiming to enhance the accuracy of epidural catheter placement at the desired spine level.
Dr. Visoiu and her team have filed both a U.S. provisional patent application and an international patent application for the innovative simulator. This not only underscores their invention’s uniqueness, but also positions it as a potential game-changer in the field of medical education and practice.
