Laerdal

Laerdal is a Norwegian healthcare-technology and medical-training company headquartered in Stavanger. It develops physical simulators, software, training systems, and educational programs for healthcare professionals, students, emergency responders, voluntary organizations, schools, hospitals, and military users. The company is best known for Resusci Anne, the CPR-training manikin that helped establish modern practical resuscitation instruction, and for the SimMan family of high-fidelity patient simulators. The business began in 1940 when Åsmund S. Lærdal founded a publishing and toy company. Its early manufacturing experience became important to the company's later medical work. Laerdal developed expertise in soft synthetic plastics, including PVC, and used the material to produce dolls, toy cars, and other products. The Tomte toy-car line achieved international distribution, while the Laerdal Anne doll became a widely recognized European toy. This experience in molding lifelike forms and working with flexible plastics later provided a technical foundation for medical-training products. In the 1950s, the Norwegian Civil Defense asked Laerdal to create realistic imitation wounds for emergency and military instruction. Around the same period, anesthesiologist Bjørn Lind introduced Åsmund Lærdal to the emerging need for a lifelike manikin that could support training in mouth-to-mouth ventilation. Lind and Lærdal worked with physician Peter Safar, a leading figure in the development of modern cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Their collaboration produced Resusci Anne, introduced in 1960. Its face was based on the death mask of an unidentified young woman associated with the River Seine in Paris. The manikin became a practical teaching platform for CPR and the foundation for a long-running family of resuscitation products. Laerdal subsequently expanded from basic CPR manikins into a broad healthcare-simulation portfolio. Its products can represent adults, children, newborns, mothers in childbirth, trauma patients, and patients requiring advanced life support. Depending on the model and configuration, the systems support training and objective feedback for chest compressions, ventilation, airway management, defibrillation, arrhythmias, blood pressure, ultrasound, vascular procedures, critical care, nursing, neonatal care, and emergency response. The company's approach combines physical simulation with instructor tools, performance measurement, scenario management, and structured debriefing. Major product families include Resusci manikins for CPR and first-aid education; SimMan patient simulators for emergency, trauma, and advanced clinical training; SimMom for obstetric education; SimBaby and SimNewB for pediatric and neonatal training; and related software and training-management solutions. In 2019, Laerdal acquired B-Line Medical, strengthening its capabilities in debriefing, assessment, and simulation-program management. Laerdal also works with professional and public-health organizations on resuscitation and clinical-education programs. Partnerships have included the American Heart Association, British Heart Foundation, Global Resuscitation Alliance, National League for Nursing, and American Academy of Pediatrics. The company also has a not-for-profit dimension. Laerdal Global Health, established in 2010 as a sister organization, develops and supports products and programs intended to improve maternal and newborn survival in low-resource settings. Its work has included Helping Babies Breathe and other training initiatives for birth attendants. Separately, the Laerdal Foundation for Acute Medicine, established in 1980, supports practical research and development in acute medicine and resuscitation, including projects related to care at birth. Laerdal therefore operates across commercial medical simulation, public resuscitation education, and global-health capacity building.

Laerdal was founded in Norway in 1940 by Åsmund S. Lærdal. The original business was involved in publishing and toy production rather than healthcare. During its early decades, the company developed manufacturing expertise in soft plastics, particularly materials suitable for molding realistic and flexible forms. Under the Tomte brand, Laerdal produced toy cars that reached international markets, and its Laerdal Anne doll became a successful European toy. This background later became a distinctive technological asset when the company began making training models for emergency medicine. In 1958, the Norwegian Civil Defense approached Laerdal about producing lifelike artificial wounds for military and emergency-response training. Around the same time, Norwegian anesthesiologist Bjørn Lind discussed with Lærdal the need for a realistic manikin to teach mouth-to-mouth ventilation. Lind had learned of the concept through physician Peter Safar, whose work was central to the development of modern CPR. Lærdal, Lind, and Safar combined medical requirements with Laerdal's experience in plastics and molded forms. The resulting Resusci Anne manikin was launched in 1960. Resusci Anne became one of the most influential practical teaching tools in the history of resuscitation education. Its recognizable face was derived from a nineteenth-century death mask associated with an unidentified woman found in the River Seine. Rather than being designed as a consumer product, the manikin was intended to let learners repeatedly practice ventilation and chest compressions in a controlled setting. Laerdal continued to update the product and developed related adult, child, and infant manikins. Over time, the portfolio incorporated feedback systems capable of measuring aspects of CPR performance and supporting instructor-led assessment. The company gradually broadened its scope from resuscitation training to full healthcare simulation. Laerdal developed increasingly sophisticated patient manikins that could respond to clinical interventions and reproduce selected physiological conditions. These systems supported training in emergency medicine, advanced life support, trauma, airway management, ventilation, cardiovascular care, nursing, obstetrics, pediatrics, neonatology, vascular procedures, and ultrasound. The SimMan family became a central part of this expansion, with versions such as SimMan 3G, SimMan 3G Trauma, SimMan Essential, SimMan ALS, and SimMan Vascular. Other product families addressed childbirth, infants, newborns, and basic CPR education. Laerdal's strategy also came to include the software surrounding simulation. Simulation programs require scenario control, learner assessment, data capture, and structured debriefing. A partnership with B-Line Medical preceded Laerdal's 2019 acquisition of the company. The acquisition strengthened Laerdal's ability to connect physical simulators with digital debriefing and training-management tools. This reflected a wider shift in medical education from simple demonstration models toward measurable, repeatable, and data-supported practice. Partnerships have been important to Laerdal's public-health and educational reach. The company has worked with the American Heart Association on CPR training kits and resuscitation education, with the British Heart Foundation on the Nation of Lifesavers initiative, and with the Global Resuscitation Alliance on programs intended to improve the quality and regularity of CPR training. It has also collaborated with the National League for Nursing on simulation in nursing education and with the American Academy of Pediatrics on neonatal-resuscitation education. These activities place Laerdal within the broader Chain of Survival, in which early recognition, CPR, defibrillation, advanced care, and post-resuscitation treatment are treated as connected interventions. Laerdal established the Laerdal Foundation for Acute Medicine in 1980. The foundation supports practically oriented research and development in acute medicine and has increasingly emphasized maternal and newborn survival in settings with limited resources. In 2010, Laerdal Global Health was established as a not-for-profit sister organization. It focuses on tools and training for safer childbirth and newborn care, including support for Helping Babies Breathe. The foundation has also hosted international meetings at Utstein Abbey near Stavanger, contributing to discussions of resuscitation research, implementation, and the Utstein Formula for Survival. Today, Laerdal operates internationally and serves healthcare systems, educational institutions, emergency organizations, voluntary groups, and military customers. Its business combines physical medical devices, simulation technology, digital education and debriefing, and partnerships intended to improve survival from cardiac arrest and complications of childbirth. The company remains privately held or otherwise without a publicly identified stock listing in the supplied reference material; detailed current ownership and executive information are not established here. Laerdal Medical developed from a Norwegian family business founded in Stavanger in 1940 by Åsmund S. Lærdal. The original company was active in publishing and manufacturing, with products that included books, educational materials, and toys made possible by advances in soft-plastic production. This background gave the business capabilities in molding, product design, and mass manufacture that later supported its move into medical education. During the postwar period, advances in cardiopulmonary resuscitation created demand for practical methods of teaching people how to perform chest compressions and rescue breathing. Researchers and instructors needed a durable training model that could be used repeatedly without exposing learners to a live patient. Laerdal responded by developing Resusci Anne in collaboration with medical experts, including resuscitation pioneer Peter Safar and other contributors to the emerging CPR movement. Introduced around 1960, the manikin became one of the best-known symbols of CPR education and helped standardize instruction internationally. The adoption of Resusci Anne marked a strategic shift toward medical training. Laerdal expanded into manikins for basic and advanced life support, airway management, neonatal care, pediatric emergencies, and trauma. As computer control, sensors, and digital media improved, the company added high-fidelity patient simulators capable of representing changing vital signs and responding to learner interventions. SimMan became a central product platform in this development, allowing instructors to create realistic clinical scenarios for hospitals, universities, ambulance services, and military or government users. Laerdal’s activities also developed beyond hardware. The company has supplied instructor materials, scenario software, debriefing and audiovisual tools, skills-assessment systems, and course-related services. This broader model reflects the company’s view that effective simulation requires a combination of a physical patient representation, appropriate curriculum, trained instructors, objective assessment, and structured debriefing. Resuscitation has remained a core area of the company’s identity. Laerdal has worked with professional organizations and public-health partners on CPR and emergency-care programs, including initiatives intended to increase bystander response, improve the quality of training, and strengthen systems of care. The company’s philanthropic history is also associated with support for resuscitation research and global health projects through the Laerdal Foundation. In the twenty-first century, Laerdal broadened its simulation portfolio across adult, pediatric, and neonatal care, as well as obstetrics, anesthesia, nursing, ultrasound, trauma, and prehospital medicine. Its products are sold or deployed in many countries through a combination of regional operations, distributors, institutional contracts, and training partnerships. Laerdal Medical remains part of the privately held Laerdal Group and continues to present itself as a healthcare-education and medical-simulation company rather than as a conventional pharmaceutical or hospital-services business.

• 2020

  Greater emphasis on scalable resuscitation training

  The company continued to provide CPR, emergency-response, and clinical-simulation equipment as healthcare education adapted to large-scale and blended training needs.

• 2019

  Laerdal acquires B-Line Medical

  [1]Laerdalen.wikipedia.org

  The acquisition deepens Laerdal's capabilities in simulation debriefing, assessment, and program management.

• 2018

  Laerdal and B-Line Medical enter a technology partnership

  [1]Laerdalen.wikipedia.org

  The partnership integrates Laerdal simulators with B-Line Medical's debriefing and training-management technology.

• 2010

  Laerdal Global Health is established

  [1]Laerdalen.wikipedia.org

  A not-for-profit sister organization is created to support maternal and newborn survival in low-income settings.

• 2009

  SimMan 3G expands the high-fidelity simulation range

  [1]Laerdalen.wikipedia.org

  Laerdal introduces SimMan 3G, a computerized patient simulator for interactive clinical training.

• 1990

  Development of the SimMan platform

  The SimMan product family became a major platform for computer-controlled, scenario-based patient simulation.

• 1990

  Move toward high-fidelity clinical simulation

  Laerdal expanded from physical skills manikins into computer-controlled patient simulators and associated software, with the SimMan platform becoming a major product family.

• 1980

  The Laerdal Foundation for Acute Medicine is established

  [1]Laerdalen.wikipedia.org

  The foundation begins supporting practical research and development in acute medicine.

• 1980

  Growth of advanced simulation

  Laerdal developed increasingly sophisticated patient simulators for advanced clinical and emergency-care education.

• 1960

  Resusci Anne is introduced

  [1]Laerdalen.wikipedia.org

  Laerdal, Bjørn Lind, and Peter Safar introduce a lifelike manikin for mouth-to-mouth ventilation and CPR instruction. Laerdal introduced Resusci Anne, a reusable CPR-training manikin that helped make standardized resuscitation education scalable.

• 1960

  Expansion into medical training

  Following the success of its CPR manikin, the company expanded into broader resuscitation, airway, and emergency-care training products.

• 1958

  The company begins developing realistic training wounds

  [1]Laerdalen.wikipedia.org

  The Norwegian Civil Defense asks Laerdal to create lifelike imitation wounds for military and emergency training.

• 1940

  Laerdal is founded as a publishing and toy company

  [1]Laerdalen.wikipedia.org

  Åsmund S. Lærdal establishes the company in Stavanger, Norway, initially focusing on publishing and toys.

• 1940

  Founding of the Lærdal business

  Åsmund S. Lærdal established the Stavanger-based business that later developed into the Laerdal Group and Laerdal Medical.

A global provider of hands-on healthcare simulation and resuscitation-training systems, combining realistic patient manikins, objective performance feedback, digital debriefing, and educational partnerships. A global medical-simulation and resuscitation-training specialist focused on improving clinical competence, emergency response, and survival outcomes through realistic simulation and scalable education.

• CPR and resuscitation manikin · 1960

  Resusci Anne

  Laerdal's best-known resuscitation manikin, introduced in 1960 through collaboration with Bjørn Lind and Peter Safar. It was designed to teach mouth-to-mouth ventilation and CPR and has evolved into versions offering CPR performance feedback and additional first-aid or advanced-skills functionality. Different configurations support instructor-led courses, feedback on compression quality, and integration with training defibrillators or digital learning systems. Its long history and widespread adoption made the product a reference point for standardized CPR instruction. Resusci Anne is Laerdal’s best-known CPR-training manikin. It is designed to teach and assess chest compressions, rescue breathing, airway opening, and related basic-life-support skills. Different configurations support instructor-led courses, feedback on compression quality, and integration with training defibrillators or digital learning systems. Its long history and widespread adoption made the product a reference point for standardized CPR instruction.

• Pediatric resuscitation manikin

  Resusci Junior

  A child-sized resuscitation-training manikin used to teach pediatric CPR and related emergency skills. Versions support objective feedback for key elements of resuscitation practice.

• Infant resuscitation manikin

  Resusci Baby

  An infant manikin for practicing CPR and other basic resuscitation procedures on babies, including versions with feedback technology for instructor-led and self-directed training.

• High-fidelity patient simulator · 2009

  SimMan 3G Trauma

  Introduced in 2009, SimMan 3G is a computerized patient simulator for interactive healthcare education. It supports scenario-based practice in emergency and clinical care, with physiological responses and data that can be used for assessment and debriefing. A trauma-focused member of the SimMan family designed for multidisciplinary emergency and injury-management training. It extends high-fidelity simulation into scenarios requiring assessment, intervention, teamwork, and coordinated trauma care.

• Patient simulator

  SimMan Essential

  A SimMan configuration intended for structured clinical and emergency-care education. It provides a realistic platform for practicing assessment, treatment decisions, communication, and team response.

• Advanced life-support simulator

  SimMan ALS

  A simulator for advanced life-support education, supporting practice in areas such as airway management, ventilation, cardiovascular care, emergency assessment, and coordinated resuscitation.

• Vascular-procedure simulator

  SimMan Vascular

  A high-fidelity simulator focused on vascular and related clinical procedures. It forms part of Laerdal's expansion into specialized procedural and critical-care education.

• Maternal and obstetric simulator

  SimMom

  A maternal simulator for obstetric and childbirth training. It enables learners to rehearse normal and complicated delivery care, emergency response, communication, and teamwork in a controlled environment.

• Pediatric patient simulator

  SimBaby

  A pediatric simulator used to train clinicians in assessment and treatment of infant and child patients, including emergency, respiratory, cardiovascular, and team-based care. It supports pediatric airway, breathing, circulation, and emergency-care scenarios, with instructor-controlled responses that allow learners to practice recognition, intervention, teamwork, and escalation. The platform is used in healthcare education and simulation centers where pediatric cases are difficult to reproduce safely with live patients. SimBaby is designed for training teams in the assessment and management of ill or injured infants. It supports pediatric airway, breathing, circulation, and emergency-care scenarios, with instructor-controlled responses that allow learners to practice recognition, intervention, teamwork, and escalation. The platform is used in healthcare education and simulation centers where pediatric cases are difficult to reproduce safely with live patients.

• Neonatal simulator

  SimNewB

  A newborn simulator for neonatal resuscitation and critical-care education. It supports realistic practice of newborn assessment, ventilation, stabilization, and coordinated clinical response. It supports practice in delivery-room stabilization, ventilation, chest compressions, assessment, and team coordination. The product is aimed at helping clinicians rehearse low-frequency, high-risk events in a controlled environment and is used alongside neonatal resuscitation curricula and institutional simulation programs.

• Debriefing and training-management software

  B-Line Medical technology

  Debriefing, assessment, and simulation-program management technology acquired by Laerdal in 2019. It supports review of learner performance and the administration of simulation-based education.

• Patient simulation system

  SimMan

  SimMan is a family of advanced patient simulators used for scenario-based education in emergency medicine, nursing, anesthesia, critical care, and prehospital settings. Depending on configuration, the system can support airway procedures, physical assessment, physiological changes, medication scenarios, defibrillation, pacing, and structured instructor control. SimMan systems are commonly paired with scenario software, recording, and debriefing tools.

• Basic CPR training manikin

  Little Anne

  Little Anne is a compact CPR-training manikin intended for group instruction, schools, workplaces, community programs, and introductory life-support courses. Its design emphasizes portability and the ability to train multiple participants efficiently. It represents Laerdal's approach of offering simpler, scalable training devices alongside advanced clinical simulators.

• Nation of Lifesavers

  United Kingdom · England

  Laerdal worked with the British Heart Foundation on a program designed to teach schoolchildren CPR and automated external defibrillator use. The initiative was linked to the inclusion of first aid and CPR in the English school curriculum from September 2020.

  Outcome. Supported wider school-based resuscitation education.

  Source
• CPR in Schools

  United States

  Laerdal supplies CPR training kits to the American Heart Association for school-based CPR education. The program operates in a country where numerous states have adopted CPR training requirements for high-school graduation.

  Outcome. Expanded access to practical CPR instruction in schools.

  Source
• Resuscitation Quality Improvement

  United States · Global

  Laerdal works with the American Heart Association and the Global Resuscitation Alliance on RQI programs that use short, frequent practice sessions to refresh healthcare workers' CPR skills.

  Outcome. Promoted recurring, performance-focused resuscitation training.

  Source
• Helping Babies Breathe

  Low-income countries · Global

  Through Laerdal Global Health and partners, the initiative provides tools and training intended to help birth attendants respond to newborn breathing difficulties. The reference material states that the program has been used to train hundreds of thousands of midwives across dozens of low-income countries.

  Outcome. Supported maternal and newborn care capacity in resource-constrained settings.

  Source

• 2019

  Acquisition of B-Line MedicalM&A

  Background

  Simulation providers increasingly needed integrated tools for learner assessment, video-supported review, debriefing, and program administration.

  Action taken

  Laerdal acquired B-Line Medical after an earlier technology partnership.

  Aftermath

  The transaction expanded Laerdal's digital simulation, debriefing, and training-management capabilities.

  Source

• 2010

  Creation of Laerdal Global HealthStrategy

  Background

  Maternal and newborn mortality remained a major challenge in low-resource settings, where practical training and appropriate equipment could be difficult to access.

  Action taken

  Laerdal established a not-for-profit sister organization focused on maternal and newborn survival.

  Aftermath

  The initiative extended Laerdal's healthcare mission beyond commercial simulation into global-health programs such as Helping Babies Breathe.

  Source

• 2009

  Introduction of SimMan 3GProduct launch

  Background

  Healthcare education was moving toward realistic, interactive simulation that could reproduce clinical conditions and provide measurable learner feedback.

  Action taken

  Laerdal launched SimMan 3G as a high-fidelity patient simulator.

  Aftermath

  The launch reinforced Laerdal's position in advanced clinical, emergency, and multidisciplinary simulation.

  Source

• 1990

  Move toward high-fidelity clinical simulationStrategy

  Background

  Healthcare education increasingly sought realistic team training for complex and high-risk clinical situations.

  Action taken

  Laerdal expanded from physical skills manikins into computer-controlled patient simulators and associated software.

  Aftermath

  Advanced simulation became a core part of the company’s portfolio across hospitals, universities, emergency services, and other institutional users.

• 1960

  Launch of Resusci AnneProduct launch

  Background

  The development of modern CPR created a need for a reusable and realistic training device that could support standardized instruction without using live subjects.

  Action taken

  Laerdal collaborated with Bjørn Lind and Peter Safar to develop and introduce Resusci Anne. Laerdal introduced Resusci Anne and built a dedicated business around resuscitation and emergency-care training.

  Aftermath

  The manikin became a foundation for Laerdal's resuscitation-training business and for practical CPR education internationally.

  Source

1. 1Laerdalen.wikipedia.org
2. 2Laerdal official websitelaerdal.com
3. 3Laerdal Medical official websitelaerdal.com