Core Concepts Before You Start

These five concepts unlock everything else in TMA. Read them once and the rest of the documentation falls into place.

1. Session ID

Every simulation in TMA lives inside a Session. A Session has a unique short ID (e.g. K1KYW1) that other devices use to join. The Session links the Controller to the Display Monitor — change a vital on the Controller and the Display Monitor in the same Session updates instantly. Two different Sessions are completely independent.

Session IDs are case-insensitive and never contain the characters O or 0 to avoid visual confusion.

2. Controller vs. Display vs. Viewer

TMA has two screens (Controller and Display Monitor) and two permission levels (Controller and Viewer).

• Controller screen (/controller) — The remote. Where you change vitals, rhythms, alarms, and everything else.
• Display Monitor screen (/display) — The patient monitor. What students see.
• Controller permission — A user who can access both screens and change things.
• Viewer permission — A user who can only see the Display Monitor. Read-only.
• Original Owner — The user who created the session. Always has Controller permission and cannot be demoted or removed by anyone.

3. The Apply Logic

The Controller has two columns for every vital: Displayed (what the monitor is showing right now) and New (what you've staged).

When you adjust a slider or type a number, you change the New value. The Display Monitor does not update yet.

Vitals only update on the Display Monitor when you click Apply New Vitals.

This is intentional. It lets you set up a sudden change across multiple vitals and reveal them all at once with a single click, rather than having students watch you fiddle in real time.

If a student is staring at the monitor confused why nothing is changing: you haven't hit Apply.

4. Real-Time Sync

Once you hit Apply, the change is instant on every connected Display Monitor and every Viewer device in the same Session — no refresh needed. Connect ten tablets to one Session and they all stay in lockstep.

5. No Login, No Save

There are no accounts. Closing the tab does not save a session's configuration as a file. Sessions are server-side and persist even if you close your browser — but vital configurations are not saved as reusable presets. Use the built-in Scenario Library (68 pre-built clinical scenarios) for repeatable starting points.