Dr. George Sheplock has designed "Brachial Plexus Blocks," a Mac-based medical simulation that combines the richness of textbooks with the hands-on experience of a lab exercise. The simulation lets anesthesia residents practice doing nerve blocks (injecting a nerve with a compound such as novocaine) by manipulating a simulated needle, using the mouse. Trainees are able to practice placing the needle on the patient and then quickly getting clinical responses, such as the "patient" hollering, "Ouch! Do you know what you're doing?"
According to Sheplock, a major in the US Air Force, staff anesthesiologist, and director of academic computing at the Wilford Hall Medical Center of Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, the main emphasis of the program is to help students visualize anatomy by bringing the experience of an actual cadaver dissection to a clinical setting. Students can call up images of the patient's underlying anatomy, looking at layers of muscle, nerves, and arteries based on digitized photographs of cadavers. They can also study 3-D illustrations of nerve structures, which can be rotated and viewed from various angles. Contact George Sheplock, MD: gsheplo@indyvax.iupui.edu.
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