Week 4: MedTech + Art

The advances of medical technology owe much to art, from teaching about medicine, appreciating the human body, to optimizing medical equipments.

 Art is essential in educating health professionals because visually understanding the human body is imperative to treat patients. Like Professor Vesna said in lecture part 1, artists play a critical role in documenting the anatomy of the body, allowing health professional students to learn the external and internal anatomical structures before working with living human beings. One of the today's most advanced educational tool is Anatomage, an interactive dissection table that I know is used in dental anatomy classes and could be used in medical school classes as well. I believe that significant artistic elements were incorporated in the creation of Anatomage in order to make this advanced creation to be highly informative yet user friendly. Although learning anatomy is a challenge, the interactiveness offered by Anatomage shows that art can make medicine fun.
Anatamoge: an interactive dissection table
http://medicine.vtc.vt.edu/news/2014/feb/14/touch-finger-learning-anatomy-was-never-more-compr/

 With our busy lives, we do not have the time to take care of our bodies properly, yet art has a way of helping us love ourselves and our bodies. From my recent visit to the Body World, I found that the art of plastination has helped me appreciate the intricacy and delicacy of the human body. Plastination, invented by Gunther von Hagen, was a technique first used to reveal inner anatomical structures yet now is used to transform the human body into art.
My own picture taken at the Body World Exhibit 
My own picture taken at the Body World Exhibit

Although the 21st century is already technology advanced, art has further advanced medical technologies by improving their designs to increase their optimality and user-friendly interfaces. In lecture 2, Professor Vesna discusses that technology has been only incorporated in health setting in the 20th century, a tool that integrates the use of art into medicine. From this lecture, I believe art has inspired medical technology and will continue to improve it. For example, dental equipments are constantly being redesigned to be more ergonomic in order to alleviate common posture/back problems experienced by dentists.  In addition, new dental tools are made to appear less daunting to patients and increase efficiency for their users. The CAD/CAM, a machine that scans and mills a crown within a single dental visit, has been reviewed highly favorable by dentists and patients because of its user-friendly interface,  quick production time, and minimal invasiveness, all contributing to increasing a patient's positive experience at a dental office. 


Dental CAD/CAM
https://youtu.be/09CKvmHOXYQ

References

"How CAD/CAM Programs Work". Https://Www.Thomasnet.Com/Articles/Custom-Manufacturing-Fabricating/Cad-Cam-Software-Explanation, 2018, https://www.thomasnet.com/articles/custom-manufacturing-fabricating/cad-cam-software-explanation. Accessed 24 Apr 2018.
"Plastination Technique - Körperwelten". Körperwelten, 2018, https://bodyworlds.com/plastination/plastination-technique/. Accessed 24 Apr 2018.
"Table | Anatomage". Anatomage.Com, 2018, https://www.anatomage.com/table/. Accessed 24 Apr 2018.
Vesna, Victoria. "Medicine Pt1". Youtube, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=717&v=Ep0M2bOM9Tk. Accessed 24 Apr 2018.
Vesna, Victoria. "Medicine Pt2". Youtube, 2012, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=314&v=psjnQarHOqQ. Accessed 24 Apr 2018.

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 28, 2018 at 9:48 PM

    I really enjoyed your post and the new insight you brought to this interesting topic this week. I particularly agreed with your point that art is essential in educating medical professionals through visuals, and have experienced this usefulness first hand in my courses.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownMay 2, 2018 at 9:17 PM

    It was very interesting to hear your discussion on dentistry and how art can inspire medical programs like CAD/CAM. Such programs offer a very detailed look at the human mouth and can not only be used in a clinical setting, but possibly also for art as I recall Dr. Vesna saying how she used anatomy books to aid in her art studies. There really is a large overlap in medicine and art, particularly in the study of the body/anatomy.

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