Sem Lampotang PhD

My overarching research interest is the promotion of patient safety through enhancement of learning and improved equipment design.  My research activities within the Center for Simulation, Advanced Learning and Technology fall into two main overlapping areas. 

Simulation in Healthcare.  I am part of the UF team that conceived the patented technology behind the Human Patient Simulator (HPS) in the late 80’s and early 90’s.  The HPS went on to revolutionize education and training in healthcare.  In the late 90’s, my simulation research shifted to what would become transparent reality simulation on the web in the form of the Virtual Anesthesia Machine (VAM) simulation.  Our simulation portfolio has become diversified to include airway devices, perioperative hemostasis, CVVH/dialysis, pharmacokinetics and physics in anesthesia simulations.  In our quest to make simulations more effective to produce and use and provide equitable access, we have applied, extended or developed learning object principles, mental models, the science of learning with simulation and sustainable web philanthropy models.  Our research has been amplified internationally through a spontaneous network of healthcare professionals who volunteered their time and effort to translate and localize our work and spread our patient safety message worldwide.

Healthcare equipment.  Another area of expertise is healthcare equipment and devices with an emphasis on anesthesia machines and equipment.  As equipment and procedures become more complex, the potential for misuse and patient harm persists.  In addition to applying simulation to teach the proper use of equipment and procedures (such as the anesthesia machine pre-use check), my research includes innovation to make equipment safer and more effective such as synchronizing chest radiographs to peak lung inflation, the imaging stylet, minimizing the risk of surgical fires and providing auditory feedback of exhalation as a means of adjusting facemask seal during bag valve mask ventilation.

Latest Publications

1: Lampotang S, Lizdas DE, Gravenstein N, Robicsek S.  
  An audible indication of exhalation increases delivered tidal volume during bag valve mask ventilation of a patient simulator.
Anesth Analg. 2006 Jan;102(1):168-71.
2: Lampotang S, Gravenstein N, Paulus DA, Gravenstein D.  
  Reducing the incidence of surgical fires: supplying nasal cannulae with sub-100% O2 gas mixtures from anesthesia machines.
Anesth Analg. 2005 Nov;101(5):1407-12.
3: Lampotang S, Sanchez JC, Chen B, Gravenstein N.  
  The effect of a bellows leak in an Ohmeda 7810 ventilator on room contamination, inspired oxygen, airway pressure, and tidal volume.
Anesth Analg. 2005 Jul;101(1):151-4, table of contents.
4: Thoman WJ, Gravenstein D, van der Aa J, Lampotang S.  
  Autoregulation in a simulator-based educational model of intracranial physiology.
J Clin Monit Comput. 1999 Dec;15(7-8):481-91.
5: Langevin PB, Hellein V, Harms SM, Tharp WK, Cheung-Seekit C, Lampotang S.  
  Synchronization of radiograph film exposure with the inspiratory pause. Effect on the appearance of bedside chest radiographs in mechanically ventilated patients.
Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 1999 Dec;160(6):2067-71.

Department Patents

GAARRC

Faculty Research


Nikolaus Gravenstein, MD
Department Chair

Michael J Banner PhD
Jerry Berger, MD
Larry Berman, MD
Azra Bihorac, MD
David Bjoraker, MD
Don Caton, MD
Laurie K Davies, MD
Donn Dennis, MD
F Kayser Enneking, MD
Tammy Euliano, MD
Andrea Gabrielli, MD
Dietrich Gravenstein, MD
Joachim S Gravenstein, MD
Gregory M Jenelle, MD
Sem Lampotang, PhD
A Joseph Layon, MD
Emilio Lobato, MD
Michael E Mahla, MD
Anatoly Martynyuk, MD
Richard J Melker, MD
Jerome Modell, MD
Tim Morey, MD
David A Paulus, MD
Yong Gang Peng, MD
Raymond Schultetus, MD
Christoph Seubert, MD
Avner Sidi, MD
Cheri Sulek, MD
Hans van Oostrom, PhD