Pulse!! Background
Since March 2005, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi has been developing Pulse!! The Virtual Clinical Learning Lab with congressional funding through the Office of Naval Research to the university's Office of Special Projects.
Pulse!! was conceived by Dr. Claudia L. McDonald, the University's Associate Vice President for Special Projects, whose recent career has focused on educational applications of high technology for institutions of higher learning. Dr. McDonald is a board member of the Lonestar Education and Research Network (LEARN), a non-profit consortium supporting the educational goals of higher-education institutions through advanced computer networking.
Pulse!! is a research project overseen by Dr. McDonald and panels of experts in medicine and learning theory. Pulse!! research tests the theory that high-fidelity virtual technology can provide effective medical learning.
The Pulse!! learning platform employs state-of-the-art computer-game technologies to create a virtual environment within which users employ discrete medical knowledge and skills.
The project is of interest to military medical officials as a means of quickly training physicians and other medical personnel in new treatment methods to meet rapid changes in the nature and complexity of warfare injuries.
Congress so far has invested almost $10 million in the project. Pulse!! has received enthusiastic support from U.S. Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi (27th Congressional District), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee's Subcommittee on Readiness and Military Construction. Federal research funds have been appropriated to Pulse!! through the Office of Naval Research.
A&M-Corpus Christi has contracted commercial game developer BreakAway Ltd. of Hunt Valley, Md., to work with the University's Office of Special Projects in producing a virtual environment that will simulate medical treatment in three-dimensional space with a level of visual fidelity never before attempted.
A&M-Corpus Christi and BreakAway have staffed a production studio at the University to produce the underlying Pulse!! computer code and build the responsive virtual environment that users will experience.
Dr. McDonald, meanwhile, has coordinated a learning and product evaluation process that will test not only the platform's usability but also its educational effectiveness, which must comply with the rigorous standards of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME).
