Application of rapid prototyping (3D printing) fracture model in the teaching of skeletal frac-ture / 中华医学教育探索杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the effect of rapid-prototyping (RP) fracture model in the teaching of extremity fracture. Methods 60 clinical medical undergraduates of the Fourth Military Medical University, who were receiving “surgery” teaching in 2012, were randomly divided into A and B groups equally by lottery. Undergraduates of Group A were taught by traditional methods while undergraduates of Group B were explained by using RP fracture model about the basic anatomy, fracture mechanism, injury mechanism of important vessels and nerves besides traditional methods. Degree of satisfaction of the undergraduates and examination were applied immediately after class. Original data were imputed into SPSS software (version 17.0) for comparison between the two groups using t-test. Results The difference of the two groups in the degree of satisfaction of the undergradu-ates, the average score of fracture mechanism, injury mechanism, clinical manifestation, key point of diagnosis, treatment principles and the total score all has statistical significance (P=0.000). Conclu-sions Students' self-initiative, learning interest and studying efficiency can be inspired by RP fracture models and their professional examination performance has also improved significantly.