Moulage Appearance: What Works at the Point of Injury?

Abstract

At the point of injury, critical medical tasks include locating and identifying an injury as well as applying the appropriate initial care. The main objective of this effort was to assess a three dimensional silicone wound versus a two dimensional tattoo wound for training and to examine differences in user perceptions and treatment time. This was accomplished with a test population of 158 City of Orlando Fire Department First Responders which were randomly assigned to each group (three dimensional silicone wound group versus a two dimensional tattoo wound group). Data analyses planned incorporated the use of non-parametric statistics (Mann-Whitney U Test) to compare the differences between the two groups on depth perception, sense of urgency, and immersion. Average time on task for the two groups was also compared. Other factors that were examined included the average costs for the tattoo wound and silicone wound as well as the number of uses before the synthetic wound was visibly damaged. The data results indicated that at the point of injury between the silicone and tattoo wounds, there were relatively few statistically significant differences in the survey data or time on task between the silicone and tattoo wounds. Additionally, the cost analysis revealed that the silicone moulage is significantly more expensive than the tattoo moulage. The results of this study provides statistically driven results that support the use of trauma tattoos for point of injury training exercises. First responder communities across the civilian and military should find this information valuable for planning future training exercises.