HSE INTERACTIVE MODULES

DEMONSTRATED BY DR. MICHAEL PARKER

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Demo I: Ventilation and Anaerobic Threshold

 (4:59) In this demonstration, Dr. Parker takes viewers through a module that explores the physiology of a person who is exercising...
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Demo II: Normal Cardiac Cycle

 (8:28) In this demonstration, Dr. Parker shows a sophisticated module that brings together various important concepts that are a part of the cardiac cycle...
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Demo III: Change in Velocity - The Airways as Roads

 (3:44) Dr. Parker chose this module to demonstrate how he sometimes draws on analogies when designing his animated diagrams...
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Demo IV: The Fick Principle

 (3:42) What to do with a complex mathematical equation that doesn't easily lend itself to visual clarification?...
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Demo V: Flow - Volume Plot

 (6:17) This interactive diagram shows how adding an element of time to an otherwise static plot can help students better comprehend an oft-used clinical tool...
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Demo VI: Effect of Input / Output on Body Fluid Compartments

 (5:56) For this interactive module, Dr. Parker has developed a real-time simulation that allows students to explore how the contents of IV fluids distribute in a patient's body...
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Demo VII: Single Alveolus in Context of Normal Lung

 (6:41) Here, Dr. Parker demonstrates a simulation that helps students contemplate an alveolus in a normal lung, which in turn is one of the keys to understanding respiratory pathophysiology...
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Demo VIII: Respiratory Changes in Pregnancy

 (2:40) One way to help illuminate respiratory physiology is a discussion of how breathing changes during pregnancy...
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Demo IX: Rib Motion During Breathing

 (5:11) For this interactive diagram, Dr. Parker created a visual aid for a common medical analogy: one that compares the rib cage during breathing to a bucket handle...
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Demo IV: The Fick Principle

What to do with a complex mathematical equation that doesn't easily lend itself to visual clarification? This was the question at hand when Dr. Parker tackled a module for the Fick Principle, what he calls one of the hardest concepts in physiology-but also one of the most important. "It doesn't really get much harder for students to visualize than this particular concept," he admits. The Fick Principle is an equation that describes mathematically the amount of oxygen that can be delivered to the body and the volume of oxygen that is then consumed by the body. It relates back, in part, to exercise physiology and how blood and oxygen function in relation to one another.

In the module, the equation is shown on the screen, along with its various parameters, including hemoglobin, oxygen saturation, and cardiac output. There are sliders under each of the parameters so students can adjust the numbers on each. Then, to illustrate the equation in a diagram, Dr. Parker shows it as a graph in three dimensions. The graph starts as an oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve, which relates oxygen content to the partial pressure of oxygen in the blood. This is laid flat on the screen, almost if it were on a tabletop. Then, there is also a vertical axis, which rises from the dissociation curve as a third dimension-this axis is for cardiac output. In addition, there is a shaded rectangle on the vertical axis that shows the amount of oxygen consumed by the body.

When students adjust the numbers in the equation, the curve on the graph changes, as does the shaded rectangle representing oxygen consumption. Students can play around with the parameters in the equation, plugging different values and watching how they affect the graph. Dr. Parker's hope is that this interaction with the diagram will help give students a more intuitive understanding of what can be a rather amorphous mathematical concept.

Key Lesson: With an interactive diagram, it is possible to take a mathematical equation that can't normally be "seen" and give it a visual interface that students can explore, such as with the Fick Principle.