© 2025 WFSU Public Media
WFSU News · Tallahassee · Panama City · Thomasville
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
WFSU-FM is currently broadcasting at reduced power. We apologize for this inconvenience. And remember, you can stream or listen to WFSU on the App.

TraumaMan Offers Lifelike Practice for Med Students

TraumaMan is one of various high-tech simulators currently being used in medical training.
Nell Boyce, NPR
TraumaMan is one of various high-tech simulators currently being used in medical training.

TraumaMan should be called TorsoMan. He's a headless, legless, armless torso with nipples and a belly button. His ribs bulge beneath pink, rubbery skin. The chest rises and falls with each mechanical breath.

But cut TraumaMan, and does he not bleed? Well, yes -- or at least, he delivers a "blood flow response" when cut by a scalpel. A synthetic device manufactured by the Seattle-based Simulab, TraumaMan is being used to help surgeons-in-training master emergency skills.

The realism of sophisticated simulators doesn't come cheap: The best go for hundreds of thousands of dollars. TraumaMan runs just a few thousand -- but replacement parts cost extra.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Nell Greenfieldboyce is a NPR science correspondent.