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ROCK ISLAND, Ill. (AP) — Students at Trinity College of Nursing in Rock Island now can dissect a cadaver without putting on scrubs or getting their hands dirty.
The college bought an Anatomage Table, a life-size, touch-interactive table that displays 3-D human anatomy.
The table, which looks like a giant tablet, can display parts of the human body, such as the gastrointestinal and circulatory systems. With a swipe of a finger, users can label organs and cut the body in hundreds of ways to show the workings under the skin.
It also can show how different types of diseases affect organs, so students can learn what diseases, such as cirrhosis of the liver or heart disease, look like.
"What's really cool about this is it's going to make our classroom really interactive," said Diana Welderman, program coordinator for radiography and health services at the school. "(Students) are going to be able to touch and move and label and all sorts of things."
The image on the Anatomage Table can be projected onto a screen in a classroom or streamed over the Internet. It comes loaded with case studies and curriculums, which can be tailored to the users' needs.
Cadaver labs are expensive to maintain, and cadavers are in short supply, Ms. Welderman said. The college typically didn't use cadavers to teach anatomy, instead relying on digital images or mannequins, which are less effective because students can't interact with them.
The table also can be used to quiz students.
"I can very easily put a little pin on here, put another pin over here and then the student can come down here and they'll have to label those," Ms. Welderman said as she poked around the on-screen abdomen.
The machine, which the school received on Dec. 29, cost about $100,000, and was purchased with grants from the Alcoa Foundation, The Bechtel Trust and Advanced Radiology.
School chancellor Tracy Poelvoorde said she believes Trinity is the only school in the area that has an Anatomage Table. Faculty members received eight hours of training on how to use it on Jan. 15.
Ms. Poelvoorde said other area colleges have asked to look at the machine, which also will be used to teach elementary and middle school students the damage that can result from things, such as smoking, in an effort to help them make healthy decisions.
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Source: Quad Cities Online, http://bit.ly/1uEPilf
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Information from: The Rock Island Argus, http://www.qconline.com/index.shtml
This is an Illinois Exchange story offered by Quad Cities Online.
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