Medical training increasingly uses simulation alternatives that achieve equivalent outcomes without animal welfare costs.
Medical and surgical training historically relied on live animals anesthetized for surgical practice. Evidence now shows that simulation-based training using synthetic models and virtual reality achieves equivalent or better learning outcomes with no animal welfare cost. Most US medical schools have eliminated live animal use in training. Military trauma training still uses live animals in some programs despite validated alternatives. Completing this transition globally requires both regulatory pressure and investment in simulation technologies.