The Orpheus Perfusion Simulator is intended for use in the Operating Room of any modern Cardio-Thoracic Surgical Unit or Simulation Centre. It is designed to be connected to any heart-lung machine (HLM) and patient monitoring system.

Once connected, in the 'pre-bypass' state, Orpheus realistically recreates a wide variety of rhythms and outputs and permits display of ECG, Arterial and CVP waveforms and nasopharyngeal temperature on the patient monitoring system.

Bypass is initiated in the usual manner using the instituional HLM and perfusion circuit. All of the standard perfusion techniques (including cooling, aortic cross-clamping, ante- and retro-grade cardioplegia) can now be performed.

A secondary display at the Perfusionist's workspace provides mixed venous oxygen saturation monitoring, activated clotting time, blood gas results and controls for the administration of vasoactive drugs.

The simulation supervisor is able to initiate a wide variety of critical perfusion incidents at any time during the simulation session. The available incidents include: