The Benefits of Using Silicone Medical Products in Training
Silicone is a rubber-like material composed of synthetic polymers. It is a synthetic rubber and plastic hybrid used for multiple purposes and uses. Silicone materials, particularly silicone rubber, are used to make all kinds of products, including cooking utensils, electrical insulation, thermal insulation, lubricants, contraceptives, adhesives, sealants, and medical products. In medical training, silicone-based tools often complement essential nursing supplies, ensuring that students work with safe, durable, and versatile materials for simulations and real-world practice. As a leading silicone manufacturer in Canada, we understand the importance of high-quality silicone products in medical training and applications.
Various Medical Grade Silicones
Because of their resilience and flexibility, numerous medical products are made of silicone material. However, not all silicone materials are the same when making medical products. Variations of silicone can make different kinds of medical products.
Here is an overview of the various types of medical-grade silicone materials in medical products:
Medical Silicone Fluids
Medical-grade silicone fluids are powerful lubricants for lubricating rubber or plastic medical instruments and devices. They are also odorless, tasteless, and transparent liquid silicones suitable as pharmaceutical active carrier ingredients due to their biocompatibility and low toxicity.
If you are looking for a synthetic blood substitute for realistic simulated surgical training, medical silicone fluids will work well as one. Blood and medical silicone fluids have similar flow and viscosity characteristics. Adding these fluids to a high-fidelity manikin can help simulate realistic bleeding during a student’s surgery training.
Silicone High Consistency Rubber
Silicone high-intensity rubber is a versatile, thermal-resistant, flexible material used to make numerous medical devices, such as extruded tubing, balloon catheters, gaskets, molded parts, cables, O-rings, and connectors. These silicone rubber materials are crucial in medical component manufacturing, offering durability and flexibility for various applications.
Many surgical simulation manikins and training models use silicone to replicate a patient's internal organs or external skin. Its durability, softness, and resistance to wear and tear make it perfect for replicating soft skin and organ tissues. Manufacturers can mold silicone into different shapes and sizes to replicate virtually any part of the human body they want for medical training.
Liquid Silicone Rubber
Medical-grade liquid silicone rubber is invaluable for making all kinds of medical devices and components because it is used for injection molding. Liquid silicone rubber simplifies making medical gaskets, antibacterial door knob covers, dental instruments, sterilization tray components, catheter components, and more. It is easy for manufacturers to mold the liquid silicone rubber with precision to create anatomical simulation models with lifelike human tissue elasticity and texture.
The simplification for making such medical devices and components comes from the exceptional impact resistance, biocompatibility, flexibility, and durability of liquid silicone rubber. In fact, this material has incredible thermal resistance that can make it withstand extremely hot temperatures, which is necessary for sterilization purposes so that medical products can be reused.
Room Temperature Vulcanizing Silicone
Room-temperature vulcanizing silicone hardens when exposed to hot temperatures. It is perfect for making durable synthetic medical components, especially biocompatible soft parts. Some examples include medical tapes, wearables, and orthopedics.
Due to its easy adaptability and use, room-temperature vulcanizing silicone is commonly used to manufacture medical simulation prototypes. And since the silicone cures into a solid quickly, manufacturers can produce RTV silicone-based training models at a rapid scale.
It is easy to customize silicone to resemble anatomical features, including texture and pigmentation. These features make it the perfect material for creating customized manikin simulators for medical schools that request specific model designs and features.
Silicone Medical Adhesives
Silicone medical adhesives have an ultra-strong bonding component suitable for manufacturing big and small medical devices. They are critical when building medical training models and simulated manikins because they are flexible, elastic, and easily bind to artificial skin.
For instance, you can use silicone medical adhesives to attach artificial skin to your manikin or medical training model. The adhesives are also helpful alternatives to staples and sutures when training students in noninvasive wound-closing techniques.
If you use prosthetic applications in your training exercises, silicone medical adhesives can help bind simulated prosthetic components to anatomically correct simulated models.
Medical-Grade Silicone Gels
Medical-grade silicone gel is a soft elastomer material often used to make breast implants and other cushion-based medical parts. It can also be sufficient as a soft adhesive applied over scar tissue to relieve discomfort and itching.
Silicone gel accurately resembles the softness and flexibility of human fat, breasts, and other soft bodily tissues. If the gel is punctured, it can heal itself without needing anyone to repair it. This self-healing quality makes it the perfect material for training medical students to insert needles into the skin during a simulation exercise.
The Top 14 Benefits of Using Silicone Medical Products in Training
Healthcare manufacturers and providers worldwide purchase roughly 39,000 tons of silicone products annually. Medical-grade silicone is viable in several medical technologies and accessories across a wide range of segments of the medical sector.
For this reason, incorporating silicone medical products into your training facility will allow your medical students to become more familiar with them before entering a real-world medical setting.
Below are the top 14 reasons why silicone products are beneficial for medical training scenarios, highlighting the silicone rubber parts benefits:
1) Temperature Resistance
Silicone medical products offer high-temperature resistance. Let your students witness the extreme temperatures these products can withstand so they better understand their range of temperature resiliency.
Silicone can withstand temperatures of up to 600°F. If your medical training involves anything to do with hot temperatures, such as electron beams or dry heat, you will want to have silicone-based products. They can provide ultimate protection and training for your students by preventing them from getting burned.
2) Wound Care
Teaching how to care for wounds is a lesson every medical student must know. Silicone is one of the best materials for wound care-related medical products, such as bandage and skin applications. Its flexibility and durability make silicon applications comfortable to wear while controlling bleeding and preventing infections.
3) Silicone Skin Simulations
Most medical schools use human-like dummies to help medical students train in administering CPR, wound care, surgery, and other medical treatments. Silicone does a great job of simulating the look and feel of human skin because of its softness, durability, and flexibility.
Therefore, when medical students train to treat patients on or through the skin, silicone-based skin helps to create a realistic simulation of the experience in a medical setting. New anatomical simulations are made all the time using silicone. The latest models are the most realistic you have ever seen, including simulations for implants and pacemakers.
4) Chemical Resistance
Medicine requires doctors and nurses to mix chemicals and liquid-based solutions frequently. Some chemicals are more hazardous to people than others. You’ll want your medical students to stay safe by avoiding direct contact with their skin and the dangerous chemicals they use during their medical training. These chemicals may include ammonia, isopropyl alcohol, and acid.
Silicone has chemical-resistant properties to shield the skin from dangerous chemicals. Medical accessories like silicone-based gloves and goggles will ensure your medical students don’t injure themselves as they learn how to handle these chemicals for medical purposes.
5) Non-Conductive Properties
Silicone contains non-conductive properties that prevent the conduction of electricity due to its ability to block the free flow of electrons. That is why a lot of electronic medical-grade devices and equipment contain components made of silicone. It can insulate your students and other components from electrical charges that could cause injury or damage.
6) Satisfy High Safety and Quality Standards
Specific laws and accredited medical training regulators have set strict standards on the quality and safety of medical products in training facilities nationwide. Medical schools failing to live up to these standards could lose their accreditations and potentially face fines and penalties. Plus, if a student gets hurt using a medical product, they could have grounds to sue the school for their injury.
Silicone-based medical products offer maximum protection and resistance against heat, electricity, chemicals, and other forms of impact. That is why silicone medical products uphold strict quality and safety standards to ensure your medical school maintains its accreditation and compliance with the law. Many of these products are FDA approved, ensuring their safety and efficacy in medical applications.
7) Maintain Cleanliness and Hygiene
Any professional medical training facility must maintain the highest levels of cleanliness and good hygiene. Since silicone is a non-porous material, it is easier to wipe away messes and disinfect surfaces to uphold strict hygiene standards. Most medical pads and wipes contain silicone elements for this reason. The hydrophobicity of silicone also contributes to its ease of cleaning and maintenance.
8) Conforms to Different Body Types
One of the most stressful things a medical student can experience is applying warmers, pads, and bandages that don’t fit the patient’s body type. Fortunately, your medical students won’t have that problem if they use silicone medical product applications because silicone has incredible conformability and flexibility properties.
Silicone can be applied to any body type comfortably and flawlessly. It will make the patients feel better and allow the medical students to gain more confidence in their training. It is a win-win solution for everybody in a medical training simulation.
9) Biocompatibility
The most significant advantage of silicone medical products for training is their biocompatibility. In other words, these silicone products are hypoallergenic and non-toxic, so they won’t cause you, your students, or your simulated patients to develop adverse allergic reactions or other unwanted symptoms.
10) Contamination Resistance
Since silicone is a non-porous material, it is resistant to all harmful environmental contaminants, such as bacteria and viruses. Students will begin to learn and appreciate this as they practice their medical training with silicone-based medical products. The bacterial resistance of silicone makes it an ideal material for surgical instruments and other medical devices that require strict hygiene standards.
11) Fast and Easy Sterilization
Sterilization is a common practice amongst medical professionals and the students training to become them. Silicone medical products have no pores, making them faster and much easier to sterilize and clean. Your new students are less likely to cross-contaminate the products with other items or people. It is one more way that you and your students can ensure a safe learning environment.
12) Educational
There is no better way to train your students than with simulated models and manikins that have realistic skin. The silicone material accurately represents the texture and appearance of human skin. It is the perfect educational experience for medical students learning to perform suturing and incisions of the skin. And if a student makes an accidental puncture, the silicone will heal itself.
13) Enhances Student Confidence
Medical students can easily transition from performing procedures on silicone-based models to humans. Since silicone medical models and manikins have realistic skin and anatomical features, students don’t need to stretch their imaginations too much when they finally start treating actual humans.
14) Less Risk of Mistakes and Errors
Beginner medical students tend to feel nervous when performing medical procedures for the first time because they are still learning the steps involved. They are even more anxious if their first time practicing is on a human.
On the other hand, practicing on silicone manikins eliminates their stress and anxiety because they don't need to worry about making a mistake that could harm someone. And when they start worrying less, they are less likely to make mistakes or errors in these procedures. This is particularly important when practicing with complex medical devices like drug delivery systems or gaskets and seals in medical equipment.
Buy Medical-Grade Silicone Products for Your Training Facility
Pristine Medical is the premier supplier of high-quality medical-grade silicone products for medical training facilities worldwide. Some popular silicone-based medical products include medical tape, catheters, channel drains, bulb reservoirs, feeding tubes, syringes, and more. Add any of these essential medical-grade silicone products to your training facility to create a safe and effective learning environment for your students.