Mixed Reality Humans Teach Med Students
It’s not all textbooks and anatomy labs for medical students these days. Advances in computer technology has opened up many new ways to help these future doctors.
Take for example this pilot study by the University of Florida, the Medical School of Georgia, and a couple of other universities.
They are using a ‘mixed reality human’ consisting of a life size computer avatar on a flat screen TV and a mannequin with a prosthetic breast.
Her name is Amanda Jones and her job is to help teach students how to perform breast exams, an intimate procedure that once could only be learned ‘on the job’. But now, thanks to Amanda, students can not only learn the correct examination procedure in a laboratory setting. But it’s not all about the physical.
Amanda talks – via a voice simulation system – and will maintain a conversation with the examiner, providing students with an opportunity to develop good doctor-patient communication skills.
The conversation is all unscripted. The student must draw Amanda’s medical history from her, asking questions and listening to her responses and concerns. And just like a real exam, this conversation takes place while the physical examination is being done.
And Amanda will know if the breast examination is not being done correctly. Sensors within the prosthetic breast provide pressure information depicted by colors on the virtual computer breast. The colors will change depending on whether or not the correct position is being palpated or not.
Amanda is also programmed to exhibit abnormal breast changes which the student should be able to discover through correct palpating and question asking techniques.
Definitely a win-win learning model for both medical students and their future patients.
