The Virtual Cadaver Lab: An Innovative Platform to Supplement Medical Education

描述（由申请人提供）：尸体解剖是医学教育中的一项重要练习。除了参加尸体解剖的60,000多名医学生外，还有数十万其他医疗保健专业人员和数百万高中生将从尸体解剖提供的探索性学习经验中受益。然而，每年只有17500具尸体可供使用，伦理和安全问题阻碍了这种广泛使用，否则这将是解剖学中宝贵的教育经验。在过去的十年里，在游戏产业的推动下，个人电脑取得了显著的性能里程碑。有机会开发一种虚拟现实解剖探索模拟器，它以可承受的成本结合了虚拟手术和多媒体的优点，并将这种宝贵的经验带给大众。这个提议描述了虚拟尸体实验室，一个3D、实时、交互式的探索应用程序，它允许学生探索人体解剖，就像医科学生探索物理尸体一样。VR与物理尸体相比具有明显的优势，例如能够消除错误，能够探索多个标本，能够记录和回放解剖以进行评估，以及能够通过组织和器官特定信息增强体验。在虚拟尸体实验室模拟中，学生将能够从任何角度观察人体，用虚拟探针触摸它，并切开皮肤进行探索。在解剖过程中，组织和器官甚至可以被激活来移动。提出了一种低成本的基于触摸的多点触摸输入设备和界面，如Microsoft Surface。这项提议的研究不仅对医科学生，而且对K-12和本科阶段的生物学学生都有巨大的影响。医科学生可以在多个尸体上练习，作为他们实验室经验的补充，而不需要出现在尸体实验室，也没有监管或道德问题。其他理科生可以通过在学校的计算机实验室或家用电脑上运行该软件，获得对人体解剖学的宝贵见解。在第一阶段，我们展示了这样一个软件的可行性，得到了学生和解剖学教授的好评。在第二阶段，我们将把这个原型转换成一个高质量的、功能齐全的商业软件包。该软件将在全国5所顶尖医学院进行评估和测试。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cadaver dissection is a critical exercise in medical education. In addition to the 60,000 plus medical students who participate in cadaver dissection, there are hundreds of thousands of other health care professionals and millions of high school students who would benefit from the exploratory learning experience that cadaver dissection provides. However, only 17,500 cadavers are available annually, and ethical and safety issues prevent such widespread use of what would otherwise be an invaluable educational experience in Anatomy. Over the past decade, personal computers have achieved remarkable performance milestones, driven by the gaming industry. An opportunity exists to develop a Virtual Reality anatomical exploration simulator that combines the best of virtual surgery and multimedia at an affordable cost and brings this invaluable experience to the masses. This proposal describes the Virtual Cadaver Lab, a 3D, real time, interactive exploratory application that allows students to explore the human anatomy the same way that medical students explore physical cadavers. VR offers distinct advantages over physical cadavers, such as the ability to erase mistakes, the ability to explore multiple specimens, the ability to record and playback dissections for assessment, and the ability to augment the experience with tissue and organ specific information. In the Virtual Cadaver Lab simulation, a student will be able to view a human body from any angle, touch it with a virtual probe, and cut open the skin for exploration. Tissues and organs can even be activated to move during their dissection activities. A low cost touch based input device and interface for multi-touch surfaces, such as Microsoft Surface, is proposed. The proposed research has tremendous implications, not only for medical students, but for biology students at the K-12 and undergraduate levels. Medical students can practice on multiple cadavers as a supplement to their lab experience without the need to be present in a cadaver lab, and without regulatory or ethical issues. Other science students can gain valuable insight into the human anatomy by running the software in a schools computer lab or on their home computer. In Phase 1, we showed the feasibility of such a software which was well received by students as well as anatomy professors. In Phase 2, we will convert this prototype into a high-quality, fully functional commercial software package. The software will be evaluated and beta tested in 5 of the nation's leading medical schools. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: In addition to the 60,000 plus medical students who participate in cadaver dissection, there are hundreds of thousands of other health care professionals and millions of high school students who would benefit from cadaver dissection. However, only 17,500 cadavers are available annually, and ethical and safety issues prevent such widespread use of what would otherwise be an invaluable educational experience in anatomy. The growing demand to purchase physical specimens and to purchase supplemental materials constitutes a major public health issue.