Fractured Femur Simulator

While medical simulation/training systems currently exist for a variety of specialties, there is no such system dealing with the assessment and treatment of fractured femurs. Suffered by hundreds of thousands each year, femur fractures can lead to serious consequences even when properly treated. When improperly treated by poorly-trained personnel, the risks of mortality and morbidity are much higher. This research effort will develop a fractured femur simulation/training system to provide hands-on training in management of femur fractures. The core of this system will be a detailed, realistic visual simulation of the injury site that will utilize state-of-the-art computer graphics technology. This visual core will be augmented by a software framework designed to accommodate various i/o devices and simulation models. The framework will facilitate the development of a family of training systems built around the same simulation core. The Phase I research will focus on three objectives: 1) enumeration of system requirements through an examination of design issues, 2) feasibility analyses of visual simulation technology using a suite of tools developed by Dynamic Animation Systems, and 3) generation of a plan for prototype development which will include preliminary system design and development schedule, and risk analysis.