Animation in Healthcare Education

Animation has emerged as one of the most effective methods to convey complex medical theories and concepts to medical students and the general public. Particularly in healthcare education, the use of animated videos could result in "much better learning outcomes than using mere words or static illustrations" (Bui, 2022).

3D representations provide an engaging method to describe the invisible molecular processes which take place within our bodies, such as this DNA Damage and Repair description below.

Studies have shown that students recall 70% of what they see compared to recalling only 20% of what they read (Bui, 2022). This shows that narrated animations (with audio and text) are the best way to communicate complex information. For example, a two minute animation could more easily explain an asthma attack (below) than a complicated thousand-word essay.

In this Future of: Medical Education podcast, Dr Bradfield discusses the use of animation in conjunction with simulation to prepare nursing students at Curtin University for real life scenarios.

Animation has the potential to democratize medical education by enabling previously hidden information to be accessible to all. The result is an improvment in global health awareness and an increased understanding of the human body for everyone.

References:

Asthma Australia. (2019, July 6). Airways with asthma 3D animation [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKtWyxFbJQM

Bradfield, Z., (2022, January 27). The Future of: Medical Education [YouTube, Podcast]. Curtin University. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGMv_ogouy4

Bui, S. (2022, February 4). Medical animation: a guide to apply animation in medical education. eLearning Industry. https://elearningindustry.com/medical-animation-the-guide-to-apply-animation-in-medical

Debnath, B. (2017, November 8). Human Body [Image]. https://www.medindia.net/news/proper-knowledge-of-anatomy-may-boost-healthcare-174456-1.htm

Divjak, M. (2020, March 2). DNA Damage and Repair [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceFr0xTMV5k 

Scientificanimations.com. (2020, June 12). 3D Medical illustration explaining the thrombophilia in blood vessels [Image]. www.scientificanimations.com/wiki-images/