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| Research |
An important aspect of research about immersive and simulation-based learning, is the innovation of new techniques and new technologies that enable the learning to take place. CISL’s faculty and staff are world leaders in pioneering teaching techniques and the simulation devices that they require.
Simulation technology: The VA Simulation Group created the first series of modern mannequin-based simulator in the late 1980s , the latest of which was then commercialized as the part of the CAE-Link Patient Simulator (eventually called the MedSim Eagle Patient Simulator); The SUMMIT lab has pioneered various simulators and underlying technologies including the “ePelvis” for training how to perform a pelvic exam, instrumented force-feedback laparoscopic surgical tools for simulators of minimally invasive surgery, and computer & internet based “virtual worlds”; Kevin Montgomery’s lab has pioneered the “open-source” SPRING simulation engine for surgical and procedural simulators. SPRING is used by researchers around the world to create new simulation devices.
To download the open-source code for SPRING, please visit the SourceForge site.
Kenneth Salisbury and the Stanford Bio-robotics Lab is producing simulations for bone surgery (temporal bone, craniofacial surgery, and dental surgery) with Stanford clinicians including Nikolas Blevins, M.D. from Otolaryngology (“Ear Nose and Throat surgery”).
Evaluation of ISL Techniques and Technologies: CISL researchers conduct many studies that evaluate the utility and impact of techniques and technologies they have invented as well as those developed by others. For example, SUMMIT has been actively assessing surgical and procedural simulators. SUMMIT has also looked at how virtual-world simulation compares to mannequin-based simulation for training medical students about decision-making and teamwork issues.
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New Courses and Applications of ISL: CISL researchers and educators have been very active in developing new techniques and new applications of ISL, resulting in a number of modules or “courses” that can be used to teach diverse sets of learners (different “target populations”). Table 1 shows many of the curricula developed by CISL faculty for these different groups, and now deployed for Stanford students, residents, and others.
Advancing Teaching Techniques: CISL researchers also are working to gain a better understanding of the key elements that make ISL work as a teaching tool. For example, Alice Edler, M.D. has been studying the process of question asking in simulation debriefing sessions. Ruth Fanning, M.D. has synthesized the literature on debriefing in health care and other high hazard industries (e.g. aviation)
