ECMO Simulators

Key features

• E-SIM Pro 3: world's first complete AI ECMO simulator
• E-SIM Portable, E-SIM Pro 2, E-SIM Mini, E-SIM Baby Pro
• LVAD-SIM: world's first LVAD haemodynamics trainer
• Pump-E, H-SIM, U-SIM, CAN-SIM, SIM-Vision AI, Omni-Hospital

What is an ECMO simulator?

An ECMO simulator lets a clinical team rehearse extracorporeal membrane oxygenation — cannulation, circuit management, perfusion, troubleshooting and the emergencies that follow — on a manikin-based system rather than on a patient. ECMO is among the highest-acuity therapies in medicine, and the situations that matter most (a suction event, a pump thrombosis, an air embolus, a decannulation under pressure) are precisely the ones a team cannot practise at the bedside.

Most simulation is reactive: a scripted scenario that plays out the same way whatever the learner does. The Simulator Company builds Responsive Simulation instead. Clamp a line, change the sweep gas, adjust pump speed or give volume, and the pressures, blood gases, ECG and lactate move the way a real patient’s would, because the physiology is being computed rather than replayed. That is the difference between a team that has memorised a sequence and a team that has practised judgement.

The full range at a glance

E-SIM and E-SIM Pro are discontinued; both are upgradable to E-SIM Pro 3. E-SIM Connect and E-SIM Collector are accessories to the E-SIM range.

What to look for in an ECMO simulator

Most ECMO simulators look similar in a brochure. These are the differences that show up two years in, when the novelty has gone and the thing either gets used every week or sits in a cupboard.

• Does the physiology respond, or replay? Ask what happens if a trainee does the wrong thing at the wrong moment. On a scripted system the scenario continues regardless, which quietly teaches sequence rather than judgement. On a responsive system the patient deteriorates the way a real one would, and the team learns why the order mattered.
• What does a session cost after the purchase? Cannulation sites that need replacing, blood substitutes, tubing and consumable skins turn a capital purchase into a running cost, and a running cost is what stops a programme training as often as it should. Self-healing cannulation sites and zero-disposable circuits change the arithmetic entirely.
• How many disciplines does one platform serve? ECMO is a team therapy. A simulator that trains the perfusionist but not the bedside nurse, or cannulation but not circuit troubleshooting, means buying twice and scheduling twice.
• Can it go where the team actually is? The training that sticks usually happens in situ, in the unit, at the time the team is rostered. A system that only works in a dedicated simulation suite gets used at the rate that suite is free.
• Is the debrief grounded in record or recollection? Observer bias is the quiet problem in simulation debriefing. A timestamped record of what happened and when turns a debate about what people remember into a conversation about what occurred.
• What is the upgrade path? ECMO practice moves. A platform that can take new modes and new physiology is a ten-year asset; one that cannot is a five-year one, and the second purchase is rarely budgeted for.
• Who built it, and have they run the therapy? Worth asking. Equipment designed by people who have delivered ECMO training tends to solve the problems trainers actually have, rather than the ones that demonstrate well on a stand.

Which ECMO simulator should we choose?

• A full ECMO centre training the whole team. E-SIM Pro 3. It is the only platform here that covers cannulation, perfusion, troubleshooting, ventilation, ultrasound and AI haemodynamics together, so one simulator serves the bedside nurse, the perfusionist, the intensivist and the surgical team.
• Retrieval, in-situ or teaching across sites. E-SIM Portable at 4.5 kg. It is built to be carried to where the team already works, which is usually where the training actually sticks.
• An established programme upgrading. E-SIM Pro 2 remains the patented comprehensive platform, and both it and the original E-SIM Pro are upgradable to Pro 3 rather than replaced.
• Paediatric and neonatal ECMO. E-SIM Baby Pro.
• Mechanical circulatory support and LVAD teams. LVAD-SIM, built from scratch around continuous-flow physiology rather than adapted from a pulsatile model.
• Perfusion and pump handling on a budget, without consumables. Pump-E, with real console behaviour and zero disposables.
• High-volume cannulation practice. CAN-SIM, for hundreds of repeatable ultrasound-guided insertions.
• Better debriefing rather than more hardware. SIM-Vision AI, which analyses the session and surfaces the critical learning events.

Common questions

Do these simulators need consumables?

No. The range is built around zero-disposable training: Pump-E reproduces console behaviour, alarms and circuit management without burning circuits, and the E-SIM platforms are designed so that repeated practice does not carry a recurring cost. That is deliberate — the programmes that improve outcomes are the ones that can afford to rehearse often.

Can one simulator cover more than one discipline?

Yes. E-SIM Pro 3 covers five therapy areas on one patented platform, with role-specific curricula for bedside, coordination, surgical and transplant-ICU teams. Buying one platform rather than four is usually the difference between a programme that runs and one that is planned.

Are the simulators upgradable?

Yes. E-SIM Pro and E-SIM Pro 2 are both upgradable to E-SIM Pro 3, and feature updates are shipped to existing units rather than sold as content packs.

Who makes the ECMO simulators?

The Simulator Company, founded in London in 2019 by Sagar Haval, a clinical perfusionist and ECMO specialist, and Babita Haval. It was the first UK company to manufacture manikin-based ECLS simulators. The E-SIM Pro 3 won Innovation in Medical Technology at the Titan Innovation Awards 2025.