HumanSim: Sedation and Airway, the free 3D trainer

HumanSim: Sedation and Airway is a 3D virtual trainer for giving emergency anesthesia and managing the breathing of critically injured or ill patients. It combines an immersive 3D training environment with a real-time physiology engine, built on Unreal Engine technology.

The Virtual Heroes Division of Applied Research Associates, Inc. (ARA) developed it for the U.S. Army's Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center, working with the Duke Human Simulation and Patient Safety Center. A press release dated September 30, 2015 introduced it as a single-player, PC-only program.

Trainees practice two techniques: Rapid Sequence Induction (RSI) and Moderate Sedation, both used to sedate and intubate a patient quickly. The software holds ten separate patient scenarios, and ARA's description says users can replay them in normal or expert mode or take a random scenario challenge. Reference documentation for the procedures can be downloaded alongside the trainer. The press release lists patient complications such as airway trauma and multiple drug interactions among the challenges.

The trainer is available. Virtual Heroes keeps a page for it at virtualheroes.com/breathe/, titled as a free game play download for medic training. The page offers the installation files, a set of reference materials and gameplay images, and it shows a counter of 8,782 downloads. The installation link delivers a zip file.

The free offer began in April 2020, when Virtual Heroes made the trainer free to the public to support healthcare workers during the COVID-19 outbreak. Before that, the 2015 terms were free access for government employees with a .gov or .mil email address and $99 for the general public. ARA's own product page for the trainer now describes it as available for free from Virtual Heroes.

The address printed in the 2020 announcement, virtualheroes.biz, no longer shows the trainer. That domain now forwards to the Virtual Heroes homepage at virtualheroes.com, and the download page sits there. Anyone using an older bookmark needs the new address.

The pages open today do not list supported Windows versions or hardware requirements, so those are worth checking against the installer before a class or a department installs it. The 2015 description of a PC-only, single-player program is the latest statement of the format.