Case Study: British Association for Immediate Care improves cricothyroidotomy training with Protolabs 3D printing

British Association for Immediate Care Protolabs responds swiftly to help first responders save lives

The British Association for Immediate Care (BASICS), a charity supporting pre-hospital medical responders, needed a realistic and cost-effective way to train practitioners in a rare, life-saving airway procedure. Their traditional method using animal parts was expensive, inconvenient, and lacked anatomical authenticity. They approached Protolabs for its 3D printing service to manufacture replicas of a human trachea for use in training manikins.

Protolabs advised on design for manufacturability and used its Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) technology with PA 12 white nylon to produce 16 durable, functional parts. The solution provided a highly realistic training scenario at a lower cost than previous methods. To date, the Protolabs-produced parts have been used to successfully train 60 medical professionals, enhancing their skills to better save lives in emergency situations.

British Association for Immediate Care

Tony Kemp

Chief Officer