Anatomy of a Heart Attack: An Interactive Teaching CD-ROM

Kevin T. Strang, PhD, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA

ABSTRACT:

This interactive computer program was designed for teaching medical and allied health students the physiology and pathophysiology underlying cardiac ischemia and heart attacks. It is based on an open-chested porcine model of myocardial ischemia used as a research and teaching tool at the UW-Madison Medical School. The CD combines video sequences with correlated ECG and blood pressure traces; interactive animated tutorials, text, and audio. It represents a collaborative effort between physiology content experts, cardiac surgeons, graphic designers, and computer programmers from the UW's Instructional Media Development Center (IMDC). The program covers surgical and instrumentation procedures, as well as background information ranging from the principles of cellular currents in cardiac cells to interpretation of the normal ECG. The main experimental sequence involves clamping a coronary artery and allowing ischemia to occur. The user is prompted at several points to make decisions about how long the blockage should remain, and when to use electrical defibrillation.

BENEFIT TO PARTICIPANTS ATTENDING SESSION:

This program provides an engaging and interactive teaching tool for educating medical and allied health students about the events underlying one of the leading causes of mortality--heart attacks. Its interactivity gives it the flexibility to be used either as a lecture aid, an individual tutorial, or even as a substitute for a vivisection lab.

Kevin T. Strang Department of Physiology University of Wisconsin Medical School 1300 University Avenue Madison, WI 53706 Phone: 608-262-8298 Fax: 608-265-5512 Email: mailto:strang@physiology.wisc.edu	Larry Whitesell Department of Cardiology University of Wisconsin Medical School 1300 University Avenue Madison, WI 53706 mailto:lfw@medicine.wisc.edu
CO-AUTHORS: Richard L. Moss Department of Physiology University of Wisconsin Medical School 1300 University Ave. Madison, WI 53706 Email: mailto:rlmoss@physiology.wisc.edu	Dick Geier Instructional Media Development Center University of Wisconsin School of Education 225 North Mills Street Madison, WI 53706 Phone: (1)608-262-1939 (2)608-263-3909 (3)608-263-9510 Fax: (1),(2) 608-265-5512 (3)608-262-6447 mailto:geier@education.wisc.edu