Medical Simulations

A friend of mine, Libby Evans, just posted this on the learn listserv here on campus… I thought it was great and wanted to pass it along.

=============

I wonder if any of the health care folks on this list are already using any of the simulations described here: http://www.madsci.com/products.html

Information about each simulation below is extracted from the company’s Web site. Prices look like they range from $69 to $149 for a single user.

CME credits can be awarded for an additional fee. There’s a package deal to get all 6 simluations for $399.

The simulations include:

Cardiac Arrest!
===============
Cardiac Arrest! casts you in the role of emergency physician. The patient’s history is presented, and the resuscitation efforts begin. You read the ECG on the computer screen, interpret the vital signs and laboratory data. Give treatment orders using a simple point and click interface, or type in plain English. Cardiac Arrest! provides drug information, an on-line text book and algorithm flowcharts for the ultimate learning environment.

Featuring 45 patients (30 adult & 15 PALS), Cardiac Arrest provides 22.5 Category 1 CME credits (requires separate registration and $60 fee.) Perfect ACLS re-certification preparation. Combine with Code Team! for the ultimate ACLS training.

Code Team! (Includes 3 modules)
==========
Cardio Quiz — ten self-teaching tutorials mixed with quiz questions prepare you for the written ACLS certification test. Covers airway management, IV techniques, cardiac drugs, case management priorities, Basic Life Support review, and more.

EKG Teaching — Live EKG with sound, stimulating tutorials and quizzes teach 3-lead rhythm strip interpretation. Covers normal and abnormal ECG parts and rhythms, with pathology pattern and recognition such as hypercalcemia, hyperkalemia, and hypothermia.

ACLS Protocols — features multiple interactive simulations that teach application of the AHA’s arrhythmia treatment algorithms to clinical situations. Among the protocols practiced are asystole, brachychardia with
and without pulse, V-tach with and without pulse, V-fib, PAT, endotracheal drugs, and acidosis therapy. Perfect preparation for the dreaded MEGACODE portion of the ACLS certification.

MicroEKG
========
Learn 12-lead ECG interpretation on your computer! Browse through ECGs and rhythm strips. Pull up a diagnosis and see if you can recognize all the features on the ECG. Pop up a table or chart at any time while taking a lesson. With multiple levels of interactive tutorials and quizzes, Micro EKG is perfect no matter what your current level of expertise:

* Basic – cardiac anatomy, ECG theory, lead placement, wave-forms, and intervals.

* Intermediate – rhythm strip interpretation and meanings of abnormal wave forms, abnormal intervals, and arrhythmias.

* Advanced- 12-lead ECG interpretation, including QRS axis, infarct diagnosis, infarct location, and infarct age. Identify the causes of ST depression. Master the diagnosis of chamber enlargement or hypertrophy,
acute and chronic pericarditis, ischemia, and more.

Trauma One!
===========
With 36 critical patients, Trauma One! solidifies your approach to the trauma victim. It teaches therapeutic priorities, threshold for action, and completeness of workup. With a complete trauma-management manual,
Trauma One! Is the best way to learn solid trauma management.

Blood Gases
===========
This valuable training aid teaches some of the most difficult, yet most important material in medicine. Use interactive tutorials, drills and quizzes to learn:

* Normal values
* Aa gradient calculation and interpretation
* Bedside acid-base balance interpretation
* Acidosis correction
* Bicarbonate dosage calculation

Blood Gases will even interpret lung function, acid-base balance, and blood gas values for you. A detailed on-line manual features helpful hints, explanations, and extra information.

Chest Pain Simulator
====================
Practice the workup, diagnosis, and treatment of chest pain patients with this “chest pain ER” trainer. Chest Pain Simulator teaches a rapid, safe, and thorough approach to chest pain through tutorials, self teaching
quizzes, and an online textbook. It includes history and exam, testing, differential diagnosis, and thrombolytic therapy.

By Jeff | Posted on: November 20, 2008 at 1:28 pm | Tagged , , |

Congress Has Meeting in Second Life

Okay, technically it is only a subcommitte of Congress… but still… a meeting in second life.  I’m not sure if I should be afraid, or excited… what do you think?

By Jeff | Posted on: April 4, 2008 at 8:20 am |

New Version of Croquet Released – Cobalt

For those of you who have been following the Second-Life alternative, Croquet, you will be interested to know that a new (very early) release of the next build, Cobalt is now available. You can download it here.

You can read more about the new build here. The graphics are much improved and the interface also looks like it has some nice improvements. I am diving into it now.

What do you think? You long time Croquet users, what enhancements does Cobalt offer?

By Jeff | Posted on: March 4, 2008 at 8:15 pm |

Novint Falcon IGN Review

The whole review deserves a look, but I especially like the part below.

This is so true. If we don’t get behind this device and push it, it may just fade into the background as something that was a great idea, but never got off the ground..

By Jeff | Posted on: March 4, 2008 at 8:26 am |

Alternate Uses of the Wii

So a colleague of mine asked if I had come across any unique uses of the Wii… I had indeed and thought I would post my findings here as well. Here are the video’s. Isn’t it AMAZING! (Note: The first three are from Johnny Chung Lee at Carnegie Mellon University and the applications can be downloaded here.)

Head Tracking for Desktop Virtual Reality Displays Using the Wii Remote

Low Cost Multi-Cost WhiteBoard System Using Wii Remote

Tracking Fingers with the Wii Remote

There is also one more I found regarding Croquet.

Controlling a Wii Remote using a Wii Remote.

This last one was done using a program on a Mac called DarwinRemote (GlovePIE for PC)(which I used for my Croquet Haptic Project). It basically turns the Wii into a mouse on a computer. You can use it for any type of program that uses a mouse. Good stuff.

Anyone else seen any cool Wii applications?

By Jeff | Posted on: March 1, 2008 at 12:00 pm | Comments (4)

Control Computer with Brain Waves

A couple of months ago I heard about a monkey that could control a computer with their brain.  Here is a video. 

Of course this required implanted electrical nodes in the monkey’s brain and months, if not years, of learning the monkey’s brain-waves and then mapping them. Not really possible for humans yet.

Then a couple of days ago I heard about a gaming system that is starting to do the same for humans.

If you think about computer peripherals like the mouse in their infancy and look at the advances they have made in the past decade it is amazing. If you now apply that same rate of advance to devices like this, 10 years from now this might actually be useful…

What do you think? Scary? Cool? Interesting? Amazing?

By Jeff | Posted on: March 1, 2008 at 8:00 am |

Novint Falcon Pistol Grip

Novint has been previewing their new Pistol Grip at the Gamers Conference this past week for the Novint Falcon. The cost has gone down even further for the Falcon.  $189 for the device.  and $20 for the extra gun handgrip.  Now, I openly admit that the new Pistol Grip has no real educational value… at least not anything that I value. Alright… I shouldn’t be so harsh. Here is a video review with the haptic handgrip.

Educational Uses?  Well, there is ROTC.  You can learn to shoot and get real feedback.  It will certainly add another dimension that will attract kids.  First-person shooter games are massively popular. 

For me, it mostly just shows the potential of different handgrips.  They mention a steering-wheel as a possible handgrip.  What other useful handgrips can you think of? 

By Jeff | Posted on: February 29, 2008 at 4:58 pm | Comments (2)

Haptic Novint Falcon Navigates Virtual Space

So I have emerged from the depths of research and work. We have this great program at UNC-CH that allows staff to take classes for free. I decided to take advantage of that this past semester and enrolled in a Human Computer Interaction class taught by Gary Marchionini in the School of Information and Library Science. Overall, it was an AWESOME class. I was able to explore some interesting interfaces and really look into the academic side of what I do every day. In describing this class to my friends I called it the “Gadget Class” because we got to take a look at a bunch of different gadget’s including the Wii and the iPhone. How cool is that?

You long time readers will recall an article I wrote back in March about haptic force feedback in learning. It was my introduction to haptics and I was quite excited about it. My organization purchased two haptic devices (Novint Falcon’s) and when it came time to pick a final project for the class I suggested we do some research into developing an educational interface for the haptic device. We published the progress we made on this webpage: http://haptic.edutechie.vanswebsites.com. This is taken from the front page to give you an intro to what we include on the website.

“Haptics” are any device that provides a touch-based system of interaction with virtual environments. In education this is important because we learn as we touch and interact with objects and data (Jain, 2003). We learn using as many of our five senses (sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste) as possible (Gardner, 1983). Until recently only the first two of those senses, auditory and visual, have been used in forms of digital education (Laycock & Day, 2003). Now, with a selection of inexpensive haptic devices and a growing awareness of the potential of haptics, we can begin to feel those digital objects as well.This webpage will focus on how educators might use these devices to augment the sense of presence that a student perceives while working in virtual worlds or on digital assignments (Van Shaik, et al., 2004). We have created several sections in order to facilitate this learning and attempted to organize it in a useful way.

First we have attempted to layout an explanation of what haptics are and the theoretical foundation for haptics in education.

Next have done an extensive literature review of haptics devices to this point in time and written a proposed study on the use of haptic devices in education.

Third we have laid out the basic functionality of the Novint Falcon, the primary haptic device we have worked with, as well as all the technical research we have done to this point. We have also laid out the possible uses of these devices in other areas of study.

Finally we have included an extensive bibliography for those interested in researching further on the topic, as well as some useful downloads for those working with haptic devices.

We also took all the information on the webpage and published it in a whitepaper “Use of Haptics to Augment Presence in an Experiential HCI Environment.”

I did all the technical research and created the webpage, but the resources my colleagues put together are phenomenal. I highly recommend them. Cary Gillenwater put together the theoretical foundation, Amit Kumar worked with Cary to create the fantastic literature review, and Brian Moynihan put together the study proposal for a haptic frog dissection in a high-school classroom. Overall I think it will be a great resource for educators looking to get into haptics. Please feel free to pass the information along and send me any suggestions/thoughts.

Where does the project stand now?

Probably most important to note is where the project stands now. We originally tried to program the haptic device to work in the virtual world Croquet, but that proved beyond my technical skills, so we ended up just making it navigate the virtual worlds. You can see a video here (sorry, you’ll have to turn the sound way up).

Most important though, is the recent announcement by Novint that they are working on drivers that will work with not only Second Life, but World of Warcraft as well. That should be a huge step forward in this haptic study. We (or someone else) can then build our objects (like a virtual frog) and see how students react to using haptic devices to education. Ooooh… this is exciting. :)

By Jeff | Posted on: December 14, 2007 at 8:43 am | Comments (5)

7 Ways Google’s new Mobile Android Platform Could Impact Education

So the release of Google’s new mobile Android platform is a couple of days old now, but I just finally found some time to read up about it and see a demo. Let’s start with that. (Note, you can skip the first minute and just go onto the demo…)

Well… I’m sad there is no gPhone… but on the other hand… Wow! I must say I am impressed. Just the design alone is awesome and reminds me a lot of the iPhone with one difference… OPEN SOURCE! I am more and more converted to educators using Open Source… not only for the cost, but the ability to make what ever you want. Imagine having the capabilities of the iPhone, but without the iBrick tendencies. :) So without further adieu, here is my list of 5 ways Google’s new Android Platform could impact education:

1. Cost – FREE… what more needs to be said?

2. OPEN – With an awesome Software Development Kit that is totally open (you can even change the dialer and home screen). You can pretty much build any application you want!

3. Multiple Platform Capability – This is not one device that everyone has to have… it is a platform that will be able to run on all mobile devices!

4. Virtual/Distance Education/Gaming – Open GL capabilities and AWESOME graphics! Imagine navigating a virtual world using mobile devices and interacting with your hands for those with multi-touch screens! Takes experiential learning to a new level. (Just FYI… Croquet uses Open GL… :) )

5. Collaboration – Education is more and more about working together in a GLOBAL community. With built in notifications and mapping software, it would be easy to write an application to notify a group of friends where you are all at once for an impromptu meeting.

6. Mobile Learning – It is becoming more important to have access to information where ever we are. Imagine being out in the field studying zoology and looking up a new bug you have never seen before on wikipedia. Nice.

7. High-Speed Capabilities – One of the BIG problems with the iPhone is the slower cellular network. It made video impossible. Now that functionality can be added in as well.

And this is just the beginning. The sky is really the limit with a product like this. Once again… thank you Google for pushing the envelope! Read More »

By Jeff | Posted on: November 14, 2007 at 9:08 am | Comments (2)

A New Generation of Learners!

The ELI conference started out yesterday with a fantastic presentation by Rick VanEck of University of North Dakota.  As all great presenters at the beginning of a conference do, he laid out a vision of the conference and why it is important.  As the focus of the conference is immersive learning environments, the title of his talk was “Generation G and the 21st Century: How Games are Preparing Todays Students for Tomorrow’s Workplace.” He said a couple of things that really stuck out to me. 

How Technology has changed our learners
Right at the beginning of the presentation he came right out and said that schools/institutions as a whole are out of touch with the way technology has changed the students arriving today.  He gives a rough definition of technology that I found quite insightful. 

Technology is what becomes available AFTER you were a teenager.

By this definition radio is technology for those born in the 1920′s-30′s.  TV for those born in the 50-60′s.  Internet for those born in the 80-90′s.  But those entering education today don’t have anything that is new to them. NOTHING is technology to them because they are comfortable with all of it!  Because they grew up with the internet, not to mention all those other ‘technology’ devices, they are intricately familiar with them.

This generation is absolutely saturated with media and stimuli from dozens of sources at once.  Because they love games and gaming, it is easy to dismiss th as flighty, spoiled, unwilling to work… but they are probably what we are going to need in the 21st century.  They are constantly on the cutting edge and innovating.  They are all about interaction, collaboration and engagement.

Old Learning / New Learning
The way we teach and learn has looked the same for thousands of years… it’s still in place… but it just looks different than we’re used to.  People still interact and learn from one another.  People still need to learn skills and facts.  There is still built in feedback and assessment.  Everything is just packaged different than we are used to. 

  • Play is naturally employed, effective learning program (think of the way kids learn!!)
  • Play requires interaction and participation!! (Engagement)
  • Benefits of PBL (Problem Based Learning)
  • Situated Cognition and Learning – “anchoring authentic context to learning” – Knowledge relevant in the field in which it is applied!!
  • Questioning, Cognitive Disequilibrium, Scaffolding

Things that we see as useless may actually be very important learning tools!  (Facebook, YouTube).

Why our Current Model Doesn’t Work
Students only typically have one stimulus in our teaching environment.  Much less than the dozen or so they have in a gaming situation. 

Fact – #1 reason for dropping out of high school – BOREDOM!

There is a large population of students that are falling through the cracks, not because they are not smart enough, but because they are not being challenged.  This old world way of teaching is not engaging them.  All you have to do is look at the copious amount of literature (websites, blogs, chat forums, and even literary guild’s in some cases) available online to see how gaming is motivating students.  They are not getting any money out of their work.  They do it because they find it rewarding.

Rick ends his presentation with a strong statement, which I will mimic here.  Learners are changing and so the way we educate them also has to change.  LEAD, FOLLOW, or GET OUT OF THE WAY!!

By Jeff | Posted on: March 28, 2007 at 4:49 pm | Comments (3)