The Future of
Simulation
4:00PM The
Future of Simulation
Bryan Bergeron, MD, President, Archetype Technologies,
Inc., bergeronbryan@yahoo.com
Moderator: Dan Hoch, MD, Neurologist,
Massachusetts General Hospital; Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School,
dbhoch@partners.org
A
simulation can be defined as the use of a model to create a situation that a
user would be unable to experience or interact with in real life. In medicine, simulations are an important
part of physician training, allowing doctors to practice procedures without the
risk of killing somebody.
Simulations
have a long history in human society.
Some people argue that cave paintings of animals created around 20,000
B.C.E. were simulated hunts. The first
simulation in the modern sense of the word was an “airplane cockpit” that
appeared in 1923. Since the 1970s,
simulations have become an increasingly common part of daily life. Many are marketed to consumers as games, and
many others are used for military purposes.
A number of different medical simulations have been created as
well. Some, such as mannequins on which
surgeons can practice, involve extensive hardware. Others, such as programs that allow doctors
to look at avatars and ask them questions, involve extensive software. At this point, graphics are no longer a
challenge for the makers of simulations.
What makes creating realistic simulations tricky is the difficulty of
writing the code that determines how the graphics should respond to user input.
When
designing a simulation, it is important to define what the simulation is meant
to teach. Certain games, for example,
simulate actions such as playing sports or musical instruments but do not teach
people to do the real thing. Simulations
must be carefully designed to not include anything that will create a
potentially confusing disconnect with reality.
If the past is any indication, the
future of simulation is unpredictable.
Revolutionary new technologies will emerge and change the field in ways
that cannot be foreseen. Simulations may
become more invisible and begin to blend into everyday life. Perhaps products will even be designed to
allow users to create their own simulations.
5:00PM Surgical Simulation: It's Not Only for
Training
Dwight Meglan, PhD, SimQuest, dmeglan@mindspring.com
Moderator: Ryan Bardsley, Senior Systems Manager, Medical
Simulation, CIMIT, rbardsley@partners.org
A
simulation can be defined as a mathematical model of the known world whose
results are consistent with known outcomes.
As of now, many programs and devices have been created to simulate
medical conditions and procedures, but very few are marketed commercially. Most medical stimulations exist only as
prototypes. Although many companies are
involved in this industry, there is little coordination between them. Perhaps this disorganization will be resolved
as simulations come to play a greater role in both medical training and medical
practice.
Simulations
can be classified as either top-down or bottom-up, depending on how they
function. Top-down simulations mimic a
bit of reality using whatever mathematical system seems most convenient. These simulations can be effective and
valuable, but they are inherently task-specific. Bottom-up simulations, which are based on
biophysical principles, are more desirable.
Simulations of this type can be generalized because they translate known
biomechanics into engineering mechanics and use meaningful internal
variables.
As
technologies such as parallel processing and quantum computing are developed,
computer power is becoming available to perform complex and realistic physical
calculations. Someday, bottom-up
simulations may be able to produce patient-specific predictions. Patient-specific simulations would require a
lot of input data, but if created, they would allow surgeons to simulate
procedures and test their effectiveness before trying them on a living
patient. In this way, simulations may
come to play an important role in medical care in addition to the role they
already play in physician training.