Technological Development in Telehealth

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Application helps teach future doctors

The Research Group on Technological Development in Telehealth is one of the most active worldwide groups in the field of the analysis of digital images, from the microscopic to radiological, and it is currently undertaking several projects, mostly involving quantitative measurements of prospective prognostic and predictive biomarkers in cancer and metabolic diseases. The group’s main partners include the Universities of Arizona (USA) and Ancona (Italy) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the United States. Another strong area of the group’s activity is in the development of medical technology, in particular multimedia educational software. The group’s chair, Professor Vinícius Duval da Silva, emphasizes new tools developed for medical undergraduate students, specifically an application that runs on tablets and smartphones using the Android and iOS systems. This application allows students to learn and perform step-by-step visual training in some procedures.

The initial trial was performed with the Elaboration of a rhomboid flap plastic surgery procedure, in which the future doctors identified a lesion and performed a skin flap. Twentyfive students performed the flaps solely using the explanation provided by a textbook, and another 25 students read the textbook and visualized the explanation provided by the software for five minutes. The final results demonstrated the tool’s efficiency: the students who used the software exhibited a larger number of hits compared to the ones who did not with an average better performance of 70%. According to the group’s chair, “All of them indicated the application as the best tool, and 64% stated that they would perform the procedure only with the help of the software. Training of human flaps will no longer require the use of animals, but just a silicon mold and a smartphone or computer, where the application is installed.”

The product, currently being patented, will be available soon for the Windows 8 system. The group aims to develop software for medical areas other than surgery. According to the group’s chair, “Students will be able to carry the software always with them, and study at home. The cost of the silicon models is low, and they exhibit a more humanistic side.”