Advanced Technology for Healthcare and Science Majors
In fall 2020, Gwynedd Mercy University secured a generous grant from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and received gifts through the President's Excellence Fund to purchase the Anatomage TABLE 7, a life-size virtual dissection table that offers an interactive life-size look at the human body and a number of animals.
The table arrived on campus in spring 2021 and GMercyU students in a variety of programs, including Medical Laboratory Science, Occupational Therapy, Radiation Therapy, Nursing, Radiologic Technology, and Respiratory Care, will be able to use this exciting new piece of technology.
Features of the Anatomage Table
Offering a high-quality lab experience without the use of cadavers or chemicals, it features both male and female life-size gross anatomy in addition to more than 1,300 clinical cases and veterinary cases.
The Anatomage Table is FDA-cleared for use in assisting medical diagnosis and can be utilized as a powerful radiology workstation and a valuable tool for surgical case review, patient consultations, and medical research. The most advanced combination of hardware and software for virtual dissection, it features ultra-high quality (UHQ) visualization for students to view photorealistic anatomical structures.
An Exciting Exploration of Anatomy for OT Students
Students in GMercyU's Functional Anatomy for Occupational Therapy class were the first to use the table. In this class, students learn about muscles and muscle attachment sites - covering the whole body, from head to toe - and apply it to human function.
"This particular day covered the head and neck muscles," said Sharon Montgomery, OTD, OTR/L, CHT, CEAS, Assistant Professor in the Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy programs. "The Anatomage Table offered a hands-on, interactive way for students to visualize the muscles individually as well as in relationship to each other. We can 'dissect' the muscles and see which muscles are more superficial and which are deep and how they overlap, something we cannot do in two-dimensional textbooks and even with three-dimensional models."
In this lab, students are given a lab handout of images with structures to identify. Then they assess their knowledge using the Anatomage Table to quiz themselves, touching on the table for the name of the structure to appear.
"We are continuously learning about the table's features and will surely expand upon our ability to integrate this exciting learning tool as we learn and as Anatomage continues to update the table's capabilities," said Dr. Montgomery.
This article originally appeared in GMercyU's Fall 2021 President's Report.