Exploiting 3D Medical Equipment Simulations to Support Biomedical Engineering Academic Courses: Design Methodology and Implementation in a Small Scale National Project

Biomedical Imaging is a rapidly evolving area, where new versions of advanced medical equipment/new methodologies based on complex physical phenomena are developed. The cost for the effective training of both academic students/company employees in real training environments is high and in many cases impossible. Most of the times, it is not possible to effectively transfer knowledge due to the limitations of these environments, which has a strong effect both on the theoretical understanding and the practical skills of students. On the other hand, the exploitation of 3D simulations enables for better knowledge acquisition by learners, although not efficiently explored yet. Several studies support that this can be achieved by maximizing the interaction with simulations. To this end, interactive 3D Medical Equipment Simulations have been developed, by exploiting open source software and delivering them through the Web and eLearning Environments. The proposed chapter aims to present the need for such Environments, the development tools, challenges, solutions and possible applications. Exploiting 3D Medical Equipment Simulations to Support Biomedical Engineering Academic Courses: Design Methodology and Implementation in a Small Scale National Project