Virtual reality has been described as a game changer for medical education. Some even predict it will see an end to using cadavers to teach anatomy.

It’s a big call but it doesn’t reflect the actual reality of medicine and medical training for a number of reasons.

Remember, we have overestimated the role of new technologies in the past. It seems hard to believe now, but in the 1990s we thought Microsoft’s PowerPoint was cutting edge.

The fact is no technology or tool can compensate for bad instruction.

It is why virtual reality, by itself, is not a game changer for teaching medicine, but it can be a very useful tool if we understand how to use it effectively.

Virtual reality in the classroom

We already use digital technologies extensively in anatomy courses. We use multimedia, games, 3D printing and medical imaging to engage and teach students in ways research tells us are most effective.

Virtual reality is just the latest tool. Because it has so many uses beyond anatomy and has a “wow” factor that engages students, companies like Facebook and Microsoft are investing heavily in it.

Microsoft has partnered with universities and developers in the US to create virtual reality-like applications to teach anatomy and to simulate medical examinations with its headset HoloLens.

A recent independent application is an immersive 3D anatomy atlas Organon 3D, developed in Australia for Facebook’s headset Oculus Rift.

Then there are augmented reality applications, which bring virtual reality elements into the real world, like the one from 3D4 Medical, which is still in development.
An example of an augmented reality application from 3D4 Medical, which is still in development.
While they are unlikely to entirely take over anatomy teaching, they can make an exciting and very useful addition.

What is widely accepted is that using multiple tools to teach anatomy produces the best outcome for students. Virtual reality applications can help prepare students before they enter a cadaver laboratory and supplement traditional teaching. This is because they not only show the parts of the body but also clearly indicate spatial relationships.

Students can access virtual reality applications anytime, anywhere, which is particularly useful for distance learners who have limited access to cadavers. It is also useful for senior medical students placed in regional and rural hospitals. It gives them an opportunity to review anatomical structures when they need it most but have little access to on campus university resources.

Virtual reality can also be used to teach students about rare pathologies that are not often seen in body donors.

Beyond all of these advantages, virtual reality is likely to improve the student experience – and this is not a small thing.

Virtual reality holds great promise, but like all new technologies, only time and robust research will tell us exactly where virtual reality best fits in medical programs. As it stands, there are very good reasons why cadavers will remain an important part of medical education.

Anatomically we are all unique; even identical twins are not anatomically identical. There are so many anatomical variations that encyclopaedias are devoted to them in print and online.

These variations do not appear in many virtual reality applications, so it’s in the cadaver laboratory that students explore these differences and it is here they begin to understand which are clinically relevant.

Students also learn how structures feel and look in reality. In a real body there are no artificial colours distinguishing veins from arteries but students can feel the difference through touch by rolling them between their fingers.

Surgeons use this same sense of touch to distinguish tumour edges from healthy tissues and to feel structures that must be preserved during surgery.

It’s also an extraordinary and often profound experience when students hold a human brain in their hands for the first time.

These experiences in cadaver labs help students develop respect for patients. Cadavers are often their first experience with death. Cadavers are, in a way, their first patient.

Cadavers take medical education beyond pure anatomy, generating compassion for the body donor, respect for the gift they made to medical education and they teach students humanity. These are especially important for future doctors.

Teaching anatomy with cadavers works. After 500 years of medical teaching, teaching with cadavers remains the benchmark against which we measure the success of new teaching methods.

Cadavers are used in medical schools around the world, even in countries where body donation may be inappropriate for cultural or religious reasons.

Virtual reality, like other technologies that can enhance medical education, may one day become common. But I wouldn’t want to be the first patient of a doctor whose only experience with anatomy was with virtual reality.

Virtual reality in medicine

While I am not aware of surgeons who trained exclusively using virtual reality, some use virtual reality to personalise surgery.

Surgeons have combined medical imaging with flight simulator technology to create 3D images of a real patient’s brain. They have then conducted virtual “fly throughs” to visualise tumours and nearby structures from all angles, like a “practice run” before removing the brain tumour.

Technologies similar to virtual reality are improving telemedicine to allow specialist surgeons to assist in surgery performed many kilometres away. New research suggests virtual reality may even help paraplegics regain some sensation and movement.

Clearly, in both medical education and the practice of medicine virtual reality will have a place. We are only just beginning to fully understand its potential. The real test of its value will only become clear over time after researchers evaluate where it is most useful and where its limitations lie.

Like all new technologies, the real test for virtual reality is how it can improve medical education and patient care.

The medical science technology advancements that are taking place at the moment are exceptional. We cant wait to see how they affect our first aid courses in the coming years. Our first aid courses are designed to be easy going, enjoyable and most importantly very good at spreading the first aid knowledge and skills needed for all first aid situations. Book in to one of our first aid courses on our website at www.canberrafirstaid.com and we make sure you enjoy t he learning you will receive.

by JAYA NARAIN, Daily Mail

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-107626/The-aid-lessons-saved-brother.html#ixzz4Q4IKm5i8

At a first aid course in Canberra with Canberra First Aid and Training you will learn how to also save a family members life by the use of back blows and chest thrusts. We will train you in our first aid course to not only understand and treat someone choking but many other aspects. these include the use of epipens, asthma pufffers and how to bandage a wound plus much more. So book in to one of our first aid course as soon as possible.

Some simple first aid skills could come in handy when travelling. Picture: Thinkstock Source: Supplied

Pack a first aid kit when travelling in case you need to play doctor. Picture: Thinkstock. Source: Supplied

The Lonely Planet Book of Everything. Picture: Lonely Planet

Here are some first aid tips that should help you along, from Lonely Planet’s Book of Everything.

A Little History

There are records from the 11th century showing that religious knights provided care to pilgrims, and trained other knights to treat battlefield injuries.

In 1863, four nations met in Geneva to form what has become the Red Cross.  Initially the organisation’s aim was to treat wounded soldiers on the battlefield.

In the USA, the Civil War (1861-65) prompted Clara Barton to organise the American Red Cross.

The term “first aid” was coined in England in 1878, at the same time that civilians were taught first aid.

Today there are first aid training organisations in many countries including Australia, Canada, Ireland, Singapore and the Netherlands.

Simple Principles

Preserve life

Prevent further harm

Promote recovery

All sounds good to me. Let’s go…

Nosebleeds

1. Sit; lean forward slowly; keep the mouth open.

2. Pinch the lower part of the nostril; hold for 15 minutes (victim breathes through the mouth).

3. Release slowly. Don’t touch the nose, or blow it; you might start the bleeding again.

4. If bleeding has not stopped after 20 minutes, seek medical attention.

Hiccups

Most of the time, hiccups are not medically significant. Doctors dismiss the many folk remedies. But if your favourite cure works, go with it!

1. The most efficient “cures” concentrate on relaxing or stimulating the diaphragm; many of them feature odd ways of drinking water.

2. So try this one: stand up; take a sip of water; turn your head upside down and swallow slowly.

Minor burns

1. Remove watches, bracelets, rings or constricting clothing before the burned area begins to swell.

2. Hold the burn under cold running water for a few minutes.

3. Apply a cold compress until the pain diminishes.

4. Dress the area with clean (if possible, sterile) non-fluffy material.

Major burns

1. If clothes are on fire, douse the victim with water.

2. Wrap the injured person in a blanket; place him or her on the ground. Do not try to remove clothing that is stuck to wounds.

3. Cover exposed burned areas with clean, dry non-fluffy material to stop infection; secure with a bandage.

4. Do Not:
• Use adhesive dressings
• Apply butter or oil
• Apply lotions or creams
• Prick burn blisters
• Use fluffy materials

Motion sickness

It’s caused by constant movement of the organ of balance in the inner ear, and also by the anxiety produced by previous attacks.

1. Various drugs are available to prevent or control motion sickness. Antihistamines help if taken about an hour before the start of a journey.

2. Tip: tell sufferers to focus on a point on the horizon rather than on nearby objects.

Blisters

They are best left to heal by themselves.

Do not prick or burst blisters, because the underlying tissue could become infected. (The fluid inside a blister is a serum that has leaked from blood in the skin underneath after a minor injury, such as that caused by a tight-fitting shoe. The serum is sterile, and provides protection to the damaged tissue.)

Sunburn

1. Apply calamine lotion or sunburn cream.

2. Protect burned skin from further exposure.

3. Take analgesics (painkillers) to relieve tenderness.

4. Extreme burning may require a cream containing corticosteroid drugs prescribed by a doctor.

Heat stroke

Heat stroke differs from heat exhaustion (where the victim sweats profusely) in that sweating stops completely, the body becomes dry and flushed, and breathing is shallow.

1. Seek medical help immediately.

2. Move the victim to a cool shady place; remove clothing. Place the victim in a sitting position, leaning back slightly.

3. Cover with a wet sheet and keep it wet.

4. Fan with a magazine (or other suitable object) until their temperature drops to a normal range.

What to Keep in Your First Aid Kit

Just pack necessities – your kit must be portable:
• adhesive tape
• antiseptic cream
• antiseptic wipes
• aspirin
• bandages: absorbent gauze, adhesive, elastic
• calamine lotion
• foil or “space” blanket
• roll of sterile cotton
• rubbing alcohol
• safety pins
• scissors
• torch (check batteries!)
• tweezers

If possible, including a mobile phone in your kit. (Put an old one in there. It still needs a battery to turn it on, but even if your contract has expired, the emergency number the country you are travelling in should still work.)

As a fellow traveller I always travel with a first aid kit, it seems annoying when you don’t need it but when you do need it gee it comes in handy. I also make sure I improve my first aid skills before I leave by attending refresher first aid course in Canberra. Canberra first aid courses are run by local trainers in Canberra who love working with people from all backgrounds and especially those who love traveling. Book in to a first aid course with Canberra First Aid before your next travelling adventure.

It all started as a painless callus on Donna Morrow’s left foot. Since she knew her diabetes made her susceptible to foot ulcers, she saw her podiatrist, who shaved down the callus as a precaution. A few months later, her foot swelled so much she could barely walk. The callus had unfurled into gaping, infected ulcers whose appearance made her sick to her stomach. The former retiree from outside Philadelphia, now a director and founder of Victory Nutrition, spent months hooked to an antibiotic IV drip, hardly able to stand or shower, and underwent three skin grafts. “Is this ever going to end?” she wondered. Fears of amputation plagued her.

Morrow’s foot took more than a year to heal. She’s not alone: About half of all diabetics suffer from nerve damage, or neuropathy, which might mean a blister or a cut escapes notice until it progresses into something more serious. Diabetes also can lower blood circulation and immunity, which may slow healing. Now, researchers are devising solutions by upgrading run-of-the-mill balms, dressings and sutures with nanotechnology designed to speed and improve healing. The latest innovations include ointments that contain nanoparticles loaded with substances that trigger the migration of new skin cells to a targeted area, as well as scaffolds for these cells to populate. One “smart bandage” fluoresces to alert doctors of infection long before clinical symptoms appear.

It’s all part of the burgeoning field of nanomedicine, which deploys tiny particles and devices — tiny as in 100,000 times thinner than a sheet of paper — to deliver drugs and detect diseases. Although nanotech solutions to cancer and HIV tend to grab the headlines, the incidence of acute and chronic wounds promises only to grow as people live longer and become more susceptible to injury, whether from burns or surgery, or underlying medical problems like diabetes. Indeed, the research firm MarketsandMarkets projects the wound-care market will swell from $17 billion in 2016 to $20.4 billion by 2021. And amid the rising tide of antibiotic resistance, the more healing we can do sans antibiotics, the better.

Why the scaled-down approach? Shrinking an object exponentially increases its surface-area-to-volume ratio, which means “its ability to interact with its environment also goes way up,” explains Adam Friedman of George Washington School of Medicine and Health Sciences in Washington, D.C. At the nanoscale, antimicrobials have a better shot at reaching and killing pathogens, for instance, while compounds that stimulate production of wound-healing proteins are more likely to be engulfed by surrounding cells. “With a tiny dart,” Friedman says, “it’s very easy to hit a large bull’s-eye.”

Doctors already use nanocrystalline silver dressings, shrinking a metal used for centuries as an antimicrobial to render it even more potent. Now, Friedman and his colleagues are engineering nanoparticles to deliver compounds that nudge skin and other cells toward a wound — like curcumin, the yellow antioxidant in tumeric, also an age-old remedy. In experiments with mice, curcumin-laced nanoparticles increased blood vessel growth; accelerated and enhanced healing, resulting in more mature skin and collagen; and blocked MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) in burn wounds.

Other nanoparticles shuttle molecules known as siRNA to silence genes that impair healing. When Dr. Amy S. Paller of the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago found that blocking the gene for the GM3 synthase enzyme led to normal wound healing, even in diabetic mice, she worked with colleague Chad Mirkin to design gold nanoparticles containing siRNA to target the gene. “Lo and behold, the mice that we treated were just so different,” Paller says. Their wounds took 12 days to heal, while those of untreated mice took 18 days — 50 percent longer. A separate study showing that knocking out the GM3 synthase gene reverses nerve loss and neuropathic pain in diabetic mice suggests that an ointment with her team’s nanoparticles could treat or even prevent diabetic wounds. Meanwhile, siRNA nanoparticles targeting the FL2 gene doubled the rate of healing in mice with cuts and burns; new skin cells even formed hair follicles and other complex structures. “They become real skin, not just a scar,” says David Sharp of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York.

Beyond nanoparticles, researchers also are engineering dressings and bandages. Nanoscaffolds — dressings made from fibrous polymers — “serve as the ladders and streets for these cells to migrate along,” Friedman explains. National University of Singapore researchers, for instance, have found an aloe vera–coated scaffold embedded with human umbilical cord stem cells (to promote skin-cell renewal) accelerated and enhanced the healing of diabetic wounds in mice. Meanwhile, British researchers have engineered a bandage that glows green when bacterial toxins puncture nanoparticles in the dressing that contain a fluorescent dye. Toby Jenkins of the University of Bath says the bandage could allow doctors to act early and minimize the risk of resistance by indicating when a burn actually needs antibiotics.

To be sure, these therapies probably won’t enter the market for a few years. Researchers still need to conduct clinical trials and scale up the manufacturing process. “Safety — not just real safety, but the perception of safety — is the biggest hurdle,” Friedman says. Our bodies seem to metabolize nanoparticles quickly and excrete them as waste, although it’s less clear for metal nanoparticles. And we still don’t know how releasing them into, say, the water supply would impact the environment.

Some patients simply are eager to see them in the clinic. Although Morrow credits dietary supplement Prodovite for speeding up her healing process, “other things” — like nanotechnology — “are as exciting.” Tom Schoenemann, 60, of Calgary, Alberta, who has diabetic neuropathy, voices similar enthusiasm. “That’s awesome to hear,” the retired Canadian baker says. “If they’re giving free samples, I’ll take them.”

|     Azlan Othman     |

IT IS better to be prepared for any unexpected instances in our daily lives. Therefore, knowing how to perform First Aid is a crucial skill that should be trained to all in efforts to help reduce injuries, promote the development of safety procedures and in extreme cases, prevent deaths.

“I encountered several incidents including when I personally assisted a child who was choking while eating food during a wedding reception. And there was a shopper who was choking at a local hypermarket,” said Haji Tajudin bin Muhammad, Head of Marketing of Kathis Management Services.

“We also provide an insight into the services that we offer to the Labour Department and to the staff of the Ministry of Development and hope to conduct roadshows with the relevant agencies. We also answer calls by relevant agencies to ensure that 80 per cent of the people in this country are well-versed with first aid.

“We assist Bruneians to be well-equipped with the aspects of Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) and the significance of HSE. We train the local trainers, be it in the government or the private sectors on first aid where our local instructors comprise experienced and retired matrons. Such training is also beneficial for parents and individuals. It’s better be safe than sorry,” Haji Tajuddin added.

Mohd Hussin bin Abdul Salam, Manager of National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), Malaysia.

We are collaborating with the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) of the Ministry of Human Resources of Malaysia under the guidance of its Manager, Mohd Hussin bin Abdul Salam who has vast experience in Malaysia to conduct courses on First Aid as well as on HSE.

Meanwhile Mohd Hussin said he wanted to assist Bruneians and have their own training on this safety aspect which is now becoming a priority. They have been training Bruneians as part of the regional Asean spirit.

“By providing this first aid and HSE services, we are also offering job opportunities to locals. Courses offered by Kathis Management are even tailored for different groups of people. It will not be the same for executives or management staff compared to contractors or technical staff. For executives or management staff, it would include the setting up of committees,” Haji Tajuddin said.

Great work coming out of Borneo with the introduction of first aid courses and trainers from Malaysia. It is imperative that these third world countries learn the first aid skills and knowledge to be able to help in an emergency. Statistics say that first aid is more than likely t be needed by a family member  or friend. If you need to update your first aid and live in or around Canberra then now is the time to book in to a Canberra First Aid course, we do all of our public first aid courses at the Dickson Tradies but can also come to you if you have a group to be trained.

Question: First aid kits can be really expensive and I would like to put together my own. What are the most important things I should have?

Answer by Carolyn Clementson, Professional Services Pharmacist at the Good Price Pharmacy Warehouse

You can definitely build your own first aid kit. The contents of a first aid kit will vary depending on its particular use. For example, a family with small children may have different requirements to a home where only adults reside and those living on a farm will have different to requirements to those living in cities. It is important to keep in mind that first aid kits in workplaces may have mandatory requirements.
However, the following inclusions should be considered for most first aid kits:
A triangular bandage
Bandages of various widths, including crepe, cohesive and elasticised conforming bandages
Non-adhesive dressings
Adhesive dressings and strips
Disposable gloves
Paper tape
Saline ampoules
Scissors
Tweezers

• Carolyn is a member of the My BT Gold Coast Advice Army, on hand to give you expertise in specialised fields from a local perspective. Do you have a question for Carolyn? Email [email protected] and we’ll pass it on.

Every household should own at least 1 first aid kit. We have one in the house and one in each of our cars. Make sure you have a first aid kit this summer because you never know when you will have an emergency. If you really want to be prepared it would be worth enrolling in one of our first aid courses in Canberra. We guarantee you will not be disappointed by our first aid course as they are excellent and well priced.