ONLY $149.95
FREE directional microphone included
Available now!!!! 

This program is available only to educational institutions.

Each year in the United States, approximately 10,000 newborns arrive with critical, potentially fatal, heart or lung disease.  As many as 80% of these babies can be saved by a procedure known as ECMO (Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation), a heart/lung bypass procedure that allows a baby’s blood to be oxygenated outside of the body.  This procedure is used when a child has no other chance of survival and conventional methods, such as mechanical ventilation, medications, and extra oxygen, will be unsuccessful.

While doctors and ECMO therapists are administering this life-saving treatment, most parents remain distressed and confused.  Although the health professionals do their best to communicate with the family, most parents do not feel informed during this critical time when the life of their child hangs in the balance.

The interactive session is controlled entirely by the user, so the information can be absorbed at the individual’s own pace.  Questions may be asked in any order, and the answers can be repeated as many times as necessary.  There is enough information on the CD-ROM for parents to conduct a meaningful, uninterrupted conversation with Dr. Short for over an hour.  The program also includes an actual case history of an “ECMO baby,” and detailed illustrations of the ECMO machine and the procedures involved.

This virtual dialogue program is currently installed in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital to make this information available to parents whose children are on ECMO.  It is also being used for pediatric intern and resident training.

ThinkSharp, Inc. provided partial funding for this Virtual Conversations™ program and uses it as a context for teaching critical decision making. This program is available only to educational institutions.