First-year medical students at the University of British Columbia use a state-of-the-art touch-screen table that displays detailed images of internal anatomy that can be rotated, enlarged and even sliced open.
The anatomy visualization table is used with traditional anatomical dissections to teach first-year medical students about human anatomy and the medical conditions they are likely to encounter as physicians. The device also familiarizes students with the radiological images that have become a core tool in the diagnosis and treatment of patients.
The 500-pound, 5-foot by 3-foot table displays primarily computed tomography (CT) scans of the entire body, including bones, muscles, organs and connective tissue. Instructors can customize the table’s images for the lessons they want to convey, showing anonymized patients with diseases and injuries that are deemed particularly relevant to the curriculum and to the practice of medicine.
“Medical imaging provides an increasingly revealing window into human anatomy and physiology,” says Dr. Dermot Kelleher, dean of the Faculty of Medicine. “But medical schools are utilizing just a fraction of its educational potential. We intend to show how powerful visualization technology can be in training the next generation of physicians.
The table, made by the Sweden-based Sectra AB, is used in UBC’s gross anatomy lab in conjunction with traditional teaching through dissection. Groups of students take turns with the device, moving from their dissection tables to the touch-screen device and back again. UBC is the first Canadian medical school to use a Sectra table, and one of only 16 in North America, thanks to a generous donation from the London Drugs Foundation.
“The anatomy visualization table highlights aspects of anatomy that are often difficult to see in the tightly-packed confines of a human body,” says Claudia Krebs, a professor of teaching in anatomy in the Faculty of Medicine. “This technology allows students to understand how the various parts fit together – and how a problem with one part can easily affect another.”
The device was demonstrated for two dozen UBC faculty members at Vancouver General Hospital, and two faculty members observed its use in Swedish medical schools last year, before the Faculty of Medicine decided to buy it. The faculty’s instructors and medical education experts will closely monitor its impact on student learning.
“Medical imaging has become a critical component of patient diagnosis and treatment in virtually all medical disciplines,” says Dr. Bruce Forster. “By enabling students to interact with these images from the moment they begin their medical education, we will be priming them for their future careers in whatever medical discipline they choose.”