Pulse!! points
Pulse!! in general
- Pulse!! The Virtual Clinical Learning Lab immerses medical learners in high-fidelity virtual space that replicates the actual
world in sight and sound.
- Pulse!! is a federally-funded research project at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi through the university's Office of Special Projects.
- Pulse!! is a high-fidelity virtual learning platform for teaching high-level critical thinking, diagnostic reasoning and clinical skills
to medical students and professionals.
- Pulse!! employs cutting-edge computer game-based technologies to present clinical cases in real time.
- Pulse!! conforms to ATLS training and ACGME core competencies
- Pulse!! research will determine whether high-level medical learning occurs in and is transferred to practice from the learning platform.
Pulse!! rationale
- Pulse!! presents the most viable option for supplementing the extending the clinical treatment environment at a time when:
- Continuously changing warfare and terrorist technology and methods drive a need for rapid deployment of military training for continuously
evolving medical treatment.
- Warfighter wounds and their treatment are increasingly complex as battlefield survival rates improve and deaths decline.
- Deaths from preventable medical errors are estimated between 44,000 and 98,000 a year.
- Baby-boom retirements from academic faculties and changes in how, when and where treatment is delivered are creating looming shortages
of medical personnel, especially physicians and nurses.
- Shorter hospital stays and residents' workweek are reducing clinical training opportunities.
- Pulse!! is the most viable option because:
- The learning platform is iterative - it provides unlimited, repeatable clinical practice without risk to patients.
- It is portable - it provides training anywhere there is a computer.
- It is asynchronous - it provides training anytime.
- It is immersive and persistent - learners act in virtual space as first-person providers of health care.
- It is an ideal learning environment for the computer-savvy 'Internet Generation.'
Pulse!! features
- The Pulse!! clinical environment replicates in detail the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md.
- The learning platform is interactive - it replicates real-world treatment options with simulated consequences.
- The learning platform is "bio-fidelic" - it faithfully replicates a human body presenting symptoms and responding to treatment in real
time.
- An authoring tool enables creation of new cases for diagnosis and treatment in the virtual environment.
Pulse!! The way ahead
- An intelligent tutoring agent mimicking the methods and dialog of human teachers
- Continue integrating artificial intelligence (AI) in the case-based system
- Integration of voice recognition in interactive components
Pulse!! collaborators & champions
- 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
- The Office of Naval Research, through which almost $10 million in congressional funding has come in the form of grants
- BreakAway Ltd., Hunt Valley, Md., a leader in modeling and simulation software used for developing computer games, innovative military
and government training applications and highly advanced data visualization tools.
- Cmdr. James Dunne, M.D., Chief of Trauma/Surgical Critical Care, National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md.
Pulse!! research sites
- Yale University School of Medicine
- The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
- The National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda, Md.
Pulse!! funding
- Through June 2008: $9.85 million through the Office of Naval Research.
