As Clinical Specialist for Spectrum Medical and a CALIFIA^® industry partner operating across the APAC region, my role sits at the intersection of commercial and clinical, ensuring our partners achieve the best possible outcomes for their patients. Simulation sits at the heart of both.

What we’ve built with CALIFIA^® over the last three years goes beyond offering simulation events. We’ve taken it into hospitals, to use with clinical teams’ own equipment, circuits, and in their own environments. That’s where immersive simulation becomes genuinely powerful.

Spectrum Medical is proud to partner with The Alfred Hospital (Melbourne, Australia) in delivering innovative simulation-based education that enhances patient safety and clinical excellence. In late 2024, we developed a unique in-situ training programme where one of four active cardiac theatres was converted into a live simulation environment during routine operating lists. Multidisciplinary cardiac teams rotated through realistic emergency scenarios, including oxygenator failure and complete heart-lung machine failure, allowing clinicians to rehearse rare but critical events in their own clinical environment. This collaboration reflects a shared commitment to high-fidelity education, teamwork, and continual improvement in cardiac surgery and extracorporeal support.

At the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (Sydney, Australia), Spectrum Medical delivered the first-of-its-kind multidisciplinary perfusion simulation for over 40 cardiothoracic surgical trainees. For many, it was the first time they’d experienced this kind of training alongside the perfusion team. That program now runs on an annual cycle alongside Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and the ANZ Society of Cardiac & Thoracic Surgeons. We’ve had whole departments show up on a Saturday. And what we hear at the end of almost every first session is the same: ‘We should have done this before. When can we do it again?’

Taking this further, the milestone that stands out most is the Tri-Society (3SCTS) meeting in Sydney in November 2025, with over 500 delegates. Spectrum Medical and Biomed Simulation partnered to display what we believe was the first simulation of its kind in the world: Dr. Sarah Scheuer demonstrated complete cannulation of the Biomed Simulation beating heart model, while Mr. Andrew Dinale initiated bypass with the Quantum Perfusion System and arrested the heart using the CALIFIA^® Patient Simulator. The reception was extraordinary.

As a serving perfusionist on the Australian Board of Cardiovascular Perfusion, my belief is that perfusion simulation should become embedded in ongoing certification globally, and that every perfusion school should have access to a CALIFIA^® Patient Simulator as a standard of training. We’re actively working toward that. Simulation is also the highest-priority offering in how Spectrum Medical continues its clinical partnership with customers; it’s how we live our mission of being a trusted partner, not just a commercial provider.