TALK Beyond Resusci Anne: Simulation, Casualty Training, and Education

An online evening talk from the Museum of the Order of St John, in partnership with the St John Historical Society.

Professor Jonathan Reinarz will explore the development of simulation in first-aid and life-saving training, using the emergence of Resusci Anne in the early 1960s as a point of departure.

Although often described as the “world’s most kissed face” and central to CPR education for over six decades, Anne represents only one element of a much longer and broader history of medical simulation. Situating her appearance within the wider simulation landscape of the 1960s, the paper traces the evolution of casualty simulation across the twentieth century, from low-technology practices such as moulage, role-play, and volunteer casualties to increasingly sophisticated physiological simulators. Focusing on Britain, it explores how simulation developed in response to changing medical knowledge, educational priorities, and societal demands, including war, industrial accidents, and mass-casualty incidents. The paper concludes by showing how these twentieth-century developments laid the foundations for contemporary disaster simulation and emergency preparedness training.

Jonathan Reinarz, Professor of the History of Medicine and Director of the History of Medicine Unit at the University of Birmingham, has published extensively on the history of hospitals and medical education. His research currently focusses on medical simulation in twentieth-century Britain.

Image credit: 'L'Inconnue de la Seine', late 19th century, plaster of paris. SJA030417

Museum of the Order of St John, London, The Priory of England and the Islands (Registered Charity no.1077265) / Matt Spour, 2025