Rowan Fitzpatrick
My name is Rowan Fitzpatrick and I am a creator in medical and anatomical education. I am a graduate of the 2022 BSc (Hons) Sport & Exercise Sciences programme at the University of Limerick, IE. My interests lie in anatomy education and cardiopulmonary pathology.
My masters thesis was in collaboration with the Scottish Ambulance Service to develop an augmented reality application capable of improving paramedic comprehension of cardiac electrophysiology and recognition of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarctions (a type of heart attack). This application was named ECG-in-AR and is something I hope to expand development on in the future.
My aims are to return to the exercise physiology field and integrate extended reality visualisation techniques into rehabilitation and training programmes with the skills I’ve learnt during the MSc Medical Visualisation & Human Anatomy course. One day I hope to progress this research into a PhD studentship.
Contact
ECG-in-AR
The electrocardiograph (ECG) is an intangible assessment of cardiac electrophysiology and a complex diagnostic of heart health commonly deemed difficult to comprehend by students in healthcare fields. During emergency situations, a high degree of importance is assigned to ECG interpretation. As first responders, ambulance personnel need a strong understanding of ECG rhythms in order to assess a patient’s needs quickly and accurately. Utilisation of supplemental learning techniques within paramedic education has risen in recent years due to advancements in extended reality technologies. Thus, the aim of this project was to develop an interactive AR mobile application visualising a 3D anatomical heart alongside varying clinical ECG presentations to enhance user knowledge of cardiac electrophysiology in paramedics. The concept and creation of the application followed a structured design while utilising multiple 3D modelling and development softwares. The final application was tested on cohort of newly qualified paramedics in the Scottish Ambulance Service (n = 10). Components of knowledge acquisition and usability while engaging with the app were evaluated to determine the efficacy of the application. A significant 22% increase in participant knowledge was found after using the application (z = -2.26, p = 0.024). The usability of the application received a score of 82.9 obtaining an ‘A’ grade, ‘excellent’ adjective denomination, and placing it within the top 10% of SUS scores. These findings indicate the current efficacy of this application in facilitating user knowledge and supports recommendations for future research.
SMILE!
My first semester Unity development project. The aim of this game is to learn basic facial musculature. A model of my head was implemented using photogrammetry. The player’s objective is to learn about each facial muscle and to be able to place them appropriately on the skull. It should take a minimum of 5 minutes for the player to make their way through the game if they watch the full intro video and read every muscle’s information panel. The player has the ability to go back and forth between learn and quiz scenes if they need to reaffirm any knowledge.
