3-D medical animation could be helpful tool for integration of medical curriculum

Dear Sir

3-D animation is an emerging field in medical education and usefulness is being considered in medical community. 3-D animation video developed under guidance of medical professional from various disciplines could enhance deeper understanding and spatial knowledge of medical students. It could be helpful in integration of medical curriculum (Lazarus et al. 2014). By using 3-D software, we model, render and compile medical topics by integrating anatomy, biochemistry, physiology and applied aspect of topic concerned. We routinely use our 3-D animated medical videos for classroom teaching and also make freely available to our students for their revision. To be sure that our tiring efforts really work, we designed case-control study to compare 2-D powerpoint teaching with teaching with 3-D animation on topic ‘pathophysology of jaundice’. One-hundred forty-two 1st year MBBS students (92 females) were divided into two groups (73 in 3-D animation group) by the table of random numbers. Surprise MCQ test consisting 20 questions covering both basic and applied aspects was conducted on the above-mentioned topic and there was no significant difference in marks, while after intervention the 3-D animation group outperformed the control group (p = 0.006). One of the recent study also supports our view (Hoyek et al. 2014). Feedback from students also showed it as a useful learning tool. So, we recommend to consider usefulness of 3-D medical animation in integration of medical curriculum.

Acknowledgements

Authors thank Mr. Mohsin Ali Khan, Secretary Era Educational trust and staff of 3-D animation department for supporting the study.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest.