Umbilical line trainer

Last updated 3/6/20

We developed a reusable umbilical line trainer to practice emergent access umbilical line placement. We bought the materials on amazon.com, with a total price of $93.

Materials (with price paid)

Vinyl newborn baby doll $31
1 ounce containers $7
Dragon Skin Silicone $34
Rubber stoppers $11
½ inch ID Vinyl tubing $10
Small wires or tubing of 2 different sizes (we used thin electrical wires and a piece of small tubing that we already had; you could also use foley catheters or IV tubing. The larger tubing will be used to create the umbilical vein and needs to be larger than your umbilical catheter).

Tools required

Utility knife or similar
Drill with various size drill bits

Time requirement:

approximately 30 minutes (excluding silicone cure time)

Instructions

Cut a window in the back of the plastic doll in order to be able to insert the container. (Fig. 1)
Drill the umbilicus out of the doll with a ½ inch drill bit. (Fig. 2)
Drill a ½ inch hole in the top of the container.
Cut a length of ½ inch tubing. It should be at least 3 inches long, but longer lengths can be cut into multiple umbilical cords.
Drill each of 2 rubber stoppers in the pattern of an umbilical stump (2 small arteries and 1 vein). Make the holes just smaller than the wires or tubing that you will use to create the arteries and vein. (Fig. 3)
Run the wires or tubing through one stopper, the ½ inch vinyl tubing, and into the other stopper. Insert one of the stoppers into the vinyl tubing.
Mix the 2 parts of Dragon Skin silicone 1:1 and pour into the vinyl tubing. (Fig. 4)
Cap the other end of the vinyl tubing with the stopper and clamp or tape the wires to suspend them in the vinyl tubing. (Fig. 5)
Allow the silicone to cure per the Dragon Skin instructions.
Remove the silicone umbilical cord from the tubing and remove the wires and/or tubing.
Insert the silicone umbilical cord into the container. (Fig. 6)
Insert the container into the doll. (Figs. 7 and 8)