The arrival of new technologies such as Google Glass have the potential to transform the way training is done in medical schools across the UK. The arrival of virtual cadavers adds another new milestone, revolutionising anatomical training. Physical cadavers are expensive and not all medical schools have the facilities for demonstrating with them. In this age of stretched budgets, any alternative is to be welcomed.
Edinburgh University has begun using a virtual cadaver in its medical school. Called the Anatomage Table, it enables students to get their hands messy (albeit in a virtual way) without the university having to deal with complicated regulations or spend tens of thousands on the necessary facilities. Gordon Findlater, a professor at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Although it will never, I believe, replace the experience of dissecting and handling a real cadaver, it will allow students to handle a virtual cadaver without all the legislation that accompanies the use of a real one.”
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