How to Make an EMS Manikin

For Little or no Money

I completed hybrid programs for my EMR and EMT certifications. These programs had an intellectual component that was completed on-line and a psychomotor skills component that was taught in-person during several days. There are a few advantages to this form of education. There are numerous disadvantages.

I realized early that the psychomotor skills component was going to cause trouble. The ability to learn multiple, concise, physical procedures in a short time is not a gift I have. Trying to learn them by reading was boring to the point of being counterproductive. Studying the procedures through videos that I found online helped but not enough for internalization with an acceptable level of confidence. I needed to practice. It is from this need that I learned a few tricks that might help others.

A Totally Free EMS Manikin

A good way to start with psychomotor skills practice is to use a prop as the focal point of a script. A prop can be almost anything: a rock, a picture, even an imaginary friend; but a plush, or stuffed animal, is a step up in conceptual realism, and plushes are widely available. Those with long, thin arms and legs can be bandaged and splinted. Naming them can help you get into character.

One of the downsides of using a plush as an EMS manikin is that few of them are firm enough for practicing chest compressions that are anywhere near realistic. This can be corrected with a simple cardiac operation.

My $3.33 Pediatric EMS Manikin

If a plush patient is not readily available, one can sometimes be found at a thrift store (or could prior to the Covid-19 pandemic.) I rescued Bobo from a Goodwill Store for $2.15. I found a heart (a small foam football) at a dollar store for $1.08. I used about $0.10 worth of duct tape that I already had.

To perform the required heart implant, I first trimmed the hair from the patient's posterior thorax and then made about an 8-inch incision in patient's skin.

I removed enough thoracic tissue to make an appropriate sized cavity, I inserted the heart, and I closed the incision with duct tape. Sutures or superglue may be substituted for tape to minimize scarring, which could be an issue if the patient's parent is a younger sibling.

Bobo works surprisingly well as a manikin on which to practice chest compressions, and he can be used to an extent to practice rescue breathing, but his lack of lungs is a major disability.

Make a Manikin from Clothes and a Ball

It is possible to create an adult manikin from old clothes.

I created Junior by packing insulated coveralls with rags and an 8-inch kickball. The coveralls are size 36 medium but have shrunk significantly since first purchased. The ball, which served as a heart, was found one day in my backyard and has never been claimed.

My mad science attempt at creating Junior did not initially go well. His body flopped all over the place. His arms and legs required distal binder clips to keep the rags inside. His head, made from a scrunched up hoodie in a pillow case, had a hideous tumor on its side. Duct tape was required to stiffen his neck.

Nevertheless, as an EMS manikin, Junior was an improvement over Bobo. Junior's heart compression and rebound were more realistic. A cervical collar fit him. He could be put in the recovery position. And his size and weight were closer to an adult's size and weight than Bobo's. The tumor and other problems, however, were killing him and required surgical intervention.

The first procedure was to insert old shirts for his wrists and ankles that were folded back on themselves to better stay under his skin. He was then given hinge joints for his elbows and knees by the use of dowels and duct tape. Finally, his central nervous system was replaced, which removed his tumor.

Junior's new brainstem and pia mater came from an old pair of pants. The end of one leg was tied in a knot. An old bath towel was then carefully folded lengthwise and wrapped around the pants leg to form a brain.

The pants leg was then pulled inside out and attached with friction to the thorax.

Junior looked much better, but his lack of an airway eventually led to his demise.

Make a Manikin from Clothes and a Prestan CPR Torso

I had earlier purchased an adult-sized, CPR manikin to build confidence after taking an American Red Cross first aid class. Grandpa, as I named him, had a good head but had lost his limbs in the war. When Junior died from asphyxia, I decided to transplant his limbs to Grandpa.

Although not free, Grandpa is much more functional than either Bobo or Junior, but his lack of hands and feet requires imagination when checking his extremity circulation, movement, and sensation. And although his Prestan face does not accept airway adjuncts and does not have nostrils, his neck will accept a cervical collar, and his head will fit in a helmet.

A Manikin's Street Value

Manikins are valuable for reasons beyond helping to pass a test. For example, a manikin can help train a student to manage cravats in high winds and to not trip on an IV line. Every EMS student should have one.