HEART WORKS- 3D ANIMATED HEART

HEART WORKS- 3D ANIMATED HEART

The world’s first virtual heart has been developed to improve teaching of peri-operative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) skills in the care of patients with heart disease. HeartWorks, a uniquely realistic computer-generated model of the heart and echocardiography simulator, is the result of a 4 year project driven by a team of three London-based cardiac anaesthesiologists. Recognising the power of education through simulation and its increasingly widespread adoption throughout clinical practice, the team is spearheading a pathway change in education in one of the most interesting and challenging areas of cardiac care. Now in production by Inventive Medical, a subsidiary of UCLH Charity London, HeartWorks is set to dramatically transform TEE training by university teaching hospitals worldwide.

The role of TEE in the management of life-threatening hemodynamic instability is well established. However, proficiency in performing a TEE examination requires significant training and expertise.

As the founder and clinical leader of TEE courses at UCLH, Dr Sue Wright MBBS FRCA was acutely aware that the opportunities to practise and observe peri-operative TEE were limited. With practice hours diminishing within the typical curriculum, it was becoming increasingly necessary to find a new solution to teach this advanced technique. Dr Wright, Dr Bruce Martin MBBS FRCA and Dr Andrew Smith MBBS FRCA, fellow UCLH anaesthetists with a keen interest in TEE, were frustrated by the lack of anatomical accuracy in current heart simulators.

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Written by Dr Martin Harris, Doctor and Mohel for Jewish Circumcision Clinic in London Bris Mila Brit Milah.
www.circumcisionlondon.co.uk

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Contact Dr Martin Harris