The Benefits of an Augmented Reality Magic Mirror System for Integrated Radiology Teaching in Gross Anatomy.

Felix Bork,Daniela Kugelmann,Nassir Navab,Leonard Stratmann,Jens Waschke,Stefan Enssle,Ulrich Eck

doi:10.1002/ase.1864

Felix Bork, Daniela Kugelmann + Show 5 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1002/ase.1864

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Abstract

Early exposure to radiological cross‐section images during introductory anatomy and dissection courses increases students’ understanding of both anatomy and radiology. Novel technologies such as augmented reality (AR) offer unique advantages for an interactive and hands‐on integration with the student at the center of the learning experience. In this article, the benefits of a previously proposed AR Magic Mirror system are compared to the Anatomage, a virtual dissection table as a system for combined anatomy and radiology teaching during a two‐semester gross anatomy course with 749 first‐year medical students, as well as a follow‐up elective course with 72 students. During the former, students worked with both systems in dedicated tutorial sessions which accompanied the anatomy lectures and provided survey‐based feedback. In the elective course, participants were assigned to three groups and underwent a self‐directed learning session using either Anatomage, Magic Mirror, or traditional radiology atlases. A pre‐ and posttest design with multiple choice questions revealed significant improvements in test scores between the two tests for both the Magic Mirror and the group using radiology atlases, while no significant differences in test scores were recorded for the Anatomage group. Furthermore, especially students with low mental rotation test (MRT) scores benefited from the Magic Mirror and Anatomage and achieved significantly higher posttest scores compared to students with a low MRT score in the theory group. Overall, the results provide supporting evidence that the Magic Mirror system achieves comparable results in terms of learning outcome to established anatomy learning tools such as Anatomage and radiology atlases.

Highlights

In today’s digitized healthcare domain, medical images are more relevant than ever before
The sessions were dedicated to various anatomical topics and were adapted to the subjects currently being taught in the gross anatomy course
In terms of advantages of the two systems over traditional textbooks (S21 – S22), the Anatomage achieved significantly higher scores compared to Magic Mirror (F(1,1496) = 48.80, P < 0.001, η2 = 0.03)

Summary

Introduction

In today’s digitized healthcare domain, medical images are more relevant than ever before. The growing relevance and omnipresence of medical images requires increased educational activities to exploit recent developments to appropriately prepare medical students for their future practice. Recent studies elucidate how today’s radiological education is still lacking at many different levels; limited overall teaching time and large lapses between anatomical and radiological education are main areas for improvement and innovation (Saha et al, 2013; Straus et al, 2014; Heptonstall et al, 2016). Integrating radiology into preclinical anatomy and dissection courses is recognized as an effective avenue to achieve early exposure to medical images while simultaneously increasing student’s motivation and understanding of both radiology and gross anatomy (Murakami et al, 2014; Naeger et al, 2014; Murphy et al, 2015; Grignon et al, 2016; Heptonstall et al, 2016; Sheikh et al, 2016; Paech et al, 2017)

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