Cases more prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions provide students with a broader experience of pathologies
Mannheim. For training with their Eyesi Indirect Ophthalmoscope and Eyesi Direct Ophthalmoscope simulators, VRmagic has developed a software package that trains eye specialists and students on pathologies predominant in tropical and subtropical regions. The twenty new cases feature retinal manifestations of diseases such as malaria, the Zika virus, or the West Nile virus. VRmagic will provide the software to customers on request and without charge. In the future, it is also planned to implement the new cases on the Eyesi Slit Lamp simulator.
The »Global Health Package« aims at helping both specialists and general physicians in high-income countries to recognize pathologies they might rarely encounter in their clinics. Also, the training package can help healthcare workers in limited-resource settings to better identify pathologies that require immediate treatment or recommending a patient to see a specialist.
The compilation of global health cases was initiated by Dr. Robin Ross. Dr. Ross is teaching global health at the University of Arizona College of Medicine Phoenix and ophthalmology at the Global Retina Institute in Scottsdale, Arizona. She also frequently engages in non-profit projects in Africa. »My future pipe dream is to develop a simulation center to train doctors from countries with limited resources«, Ross states. »Vision is more than eyesight ̶ with the number of blind or visually impaired at one billion worldwide, as published by the WHO last year, we need to begin with the training of the next generation of physicians.«
A team of voluntary co-authors contributed real clinical cases for the Global Health Package. VRmagic digitally modeled the retinas for examination on the simulators and complemented the clinical information to make it classroom-ready. As a result, the simulators’ courseware features a new case structure: a complete clinical picture including contextual information such as physical examinations, laboratory test results, and a discussion of differential diagnoses. For presenting realistic cases of the congenital Zika virus, VRmagic added infants’ heads to the simulation.
Interested customers can request the software package for the Eyesi Indirect and Eyesi Direct simulator free of charge directly at VRmagic.
Dr. Robin Ross, who frequently engages in non-profit projects in Africa, has initiated the development of the global health cases.
Interview with Dr. Ross on how the cooperation with VRmagic evolved
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