Moulage

Picture showing a 'dead' OPFOR soldier with moulage.

Moulage (French: casting/moulding) is the art of applying mock injuries for the purpose of training Emergency Response Teams and other medical and military personnel. Moulage may be as simple as applying pre-made rubber or latex "wounds" to a healthy "patient's" limbs, chest, head, etc., or as complex as using complicated makeup and theatre techniques to provide elements of realism (such as blood, vomitus, open fractures, etc.) to the training simulation. The practice dates to at least the Renaissance, when wax figures were used for this purpose.

Picture showing medical soldiers working on a training aid (dummy) with moulage.

History of Medical Moulage

The history of wax models is ancient. Wax anatomical models were first made by Gaetano Giulio Zummo (1656-1701) who first worked in Naples, then Florence, and finally Paris, where he was granted monopoly right by Louis XIV. Later, Jules Baretta (1834-1923) made more than 2000 splendid wax models in Hospital Saint-Louis, Paris, where more than 4000 wax models were collected. While wax models were being made, he made pleasant conversations with the patients, sang songs or at times played the piano. Moulages were made for the education of dermatologists around the world, but were eventually replaced by color slides.

In the 19th century moulage was taken of medical patients for educational purposes. The prepared model was painted to mimic the original disease.

See also

• Makeup
• EMS
• Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCE)
• Theatrical blood

External links

• Museum of Moulages, University of Zurich (English/ German)
• German Atlas with Moulages (E.Jacobi, 1913)
• Museum of Health Care at Kingston (English)
• Museum of Health Care collection database(English)