A cut above in doctor training
Jan 29 2008 by Audrey Barton, The Journal
MEDICAL students will have a better understanding of going under the knife thanks to a world-first project developed in the North-East.
A unique surgical gown should significantly improve understanding of where operation incisions are made, and what they mean to the patient, say its developers at Durham and Ulster universities.
It is hoped the gown, which would be worn by medical students in the classroom, will supplement the traditional plastic models of the human body that are currently in global use as teaching aids.
The garment named Incisions, which went on international display in the USA yesterday, will also help in explaining procedures to patients, according to the scientists.
Leading medical developer Prof John McLachlan, associate dean in Durham University’s School for Health, said: “Current anatomical teaching aids describe but they don’t evoke. They take no account of emotional involvement or the feel of the body. The way medical students distance themselves emotionally from the patient’s body has long been seen as a desirable outcome of current modes of medical training.
“We think we can use art to bring meaning back into medical teaching and we want to help students understand the significance of the body as well as its structure.”
The gown has nine zips showing where surgeons make cuts in the body for various operations such as removal of the appendix and open heart surgery. Its silk material is more like human tissue than the plastic of the traditional models.
Medical students will wear the gown in the classroom while fellow students learn about surgical incisions using the zips. It will lead to a greater understanding of what it means to be the patient, say the developers.
Researchers say it will contribute to an improvement in teaching aids currently available. They say that, although the traditional plastic models can be used to show areas of the body and where incisions will roughly be made, they are not able to give medical students a sense of the feeling if they were the patient or show them the type of texture they will find once they have made an incision.
