Virtual Clinical Learning Lab Developed by Texas A&M
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – Three prestigious medical institutions have agreed to serve as test sites for Pulse!! The Virtual Clinical Learning Lab being developed by Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi.
In development since March 2005, a pre-release version of Pulse!! will begin testing in January at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.; The Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Md.; and the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md.
Pulse!!, a collaboration of A&M-Corpus Christi and commercial game
developer BreakAway Ltd. of Hunt Valley, Md., is a high-fidelity,
computer-based learning platform designed to train physicians, medical
students and allied personnel in virtual space at no risk to actual
patients.
Pulse!! is a modeling and simulation research
project overseen by teams of medical experts across the United States.
Dr. Claudia L. Johnston, Associate Vice President for Special Projects
at A&M-Corpus Christi, is the originator of and principal
investigator for Pulse!!
“The work undertaken by the Pulse!!
project’s highly-skilled team puts A&M-Corpus Christi further on
the technology map because of the ingenuity exercised in developing
top-flight methods for medical training,†said Dr. Flavius Killebrew,
President of A&M-Corpus Christi. “The collaborative efforts on both
the project’s creation and testing support our academic and research
strengths.â€
The project is funded through the Office of Naval
Research (ONR) and has been strongly supported through the
congressional budget process by U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus
Christi, a member of the House Armed Services Committee. Funding to
date is almost $10 million.
“This ground-breaking venture is a
pioneering moment in our history, bringing together military, state and
federal government entities, academia and the private sector to develop
innovative game-based technologies with an extraordinary magnitude and
level of realism to educate medical personnel and improve the quality
of health care,†Ortiz said.
“Pulse!! offers an opportunity to
change how military physicians learn to treat injuries from the
battlefield to the home front,†Ortiz said. “It could, more broadly,
change the future face of medical education in our country.â€
The congressman said it was a “breakout moment for this national program.â€
“I
am proud of my role in making this project possible, and I am extremely
proud of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi for their tenacity, creativity
and extraordinary achievement in modern medical science,†Ortiz said.
The
Pulse!! concept has captured the attention of U.S. military officials
as a way to train medical personnel quickly and effectively in the
intensive care of battle wounds, which continuously evolve with weapons
systems and frontline medical techniques.
“Pulse!! represents
the future of Department of Defense and medical simulation, combining
the best of entertainment and training technologies to create realistic
medical environments that evoke the stress and emotion found in the
operational environment,†said Cmdr. Russell Shilling, a psychologist
with the Naval Warrior Applications Division of ONR.
Cmdr.
James R Dunne, chief of trauma/surgical critical care at the National
Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, said he was eager to employ the
Pulse!! platform.
“I am very excited to be a part of this
project because I can see the tremendous potential it has for
just-in-time training as well as sustainment training, in regards to
combat casualty care,†Dunne said. Pulse!! will begin testing in
January with about 300 medical students, residents and physicians at
Yale, Johns Hopkins and the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda.
BreakAway, meanwhile, will assess the platform’s stability and
performance with about 350 people.
“The Pulse!! project
represents an important convergence of gaming technology, educational
theory and clinical need,†said Dr. Kirk Shelley, associate professor
of anesthesiology and medical director of ambulatory surgery at Yale.
“The
increasing complexity of the critical-care environment mandates that we
find innovative ways to rapidly train health care providers,†Shelley
said. “I am thrilled about being a part of this remarkable project.â€
Dr.
Eric V. Jackson Jr., director of the Center for Immersive Simulation
and Telemedicine at Johns Hopkins, said Pulse!! dovetails with the
center’s goals.
“The Johns Hopkins Simulation Center and the
Center for Immersive Simulation and Telemedicine are dedicated to
advancing the fields of medical education and patient safety and
believe that the Pulse!! project represents an exciting innovation that
can truly contribute to both,†Jackson said.
The Pulse!! project is a trailblazing collaboration, said Doug Whatley, founder and CEO of BreakAway Ltd.
“We’re
thrilled to be collaborating with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and
these esteemed institutions to validate the tools and technologies for
this first-ever virtual learning environment,†Whatley said.
“It’s
a significant milestone in the development of Pulse!! to partner with
Johns Hopkins and Yale universities and the National Naval Medical
Center,†Whatley said.
“We look forward to the opportunity to
demonstrate the many distinct advantages that Pulse!! will provide to
our medical and military health professionals,†Whatley said.
Johnston said Pulse!! development has reached an exciting stage.
“It’s gratifying to me, personally and professionally, that these institutions have
expressed such great confidence in the development of the Pulse!! learning platform,†Johnston said.
“It’s
our hope, at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, that Pulse!! technology will
become a key component in medical education and training and be of
service to the nation’s military and future generations of health-care
professionals,†Johnston said.
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