Text:/ Tim Stackpool
Main Photo:/ Paul Wright

RADICAL SURGERY

Professor John Cartmill considered other facilities such as the Mayo Clinic, John Hopkins, and The Royal College of Surgeons as a starting point for the brief. But rather than basing the AV at ASAM on the physical structure of those institutions, the professor instead developed the specification on the fundamental principles of the pursuit of excellence, lifelong learning and joint action.
He admits that having surgeons formulate the AV structure could be “a recipe for disaster”, but notes that substantial consultation was key. He said: “I consulted widely with my colleagues at ASAM, the Dean, Michael Morgan, the Professor of Medical Education Rufus Clarke and particularly my father, Professor Tim Cartmill – not a member of the University but an experienced surgical educator. We spent a lot of time tossing ideas back and forth. Dr Richard Morris was influential and so was Professor Michael Patkin, a surgical ergonomist. Mr Evan Rawstrom, our chief operating officer helped by reminding me to follow my imagination… he was the one to work out how to pay for it.”

Underlying all of this is the ultimate goal of the ASAM facility: surgeons learn to operate at the ASAM undertaking practice in bowel surgery, neurosurgery, orthopaedics and ‘plastics’. AV is not the entire education solution but is recognised by the team as part of it. Simulation, practice surgery and actual surgery are the mainstays of the learning, with AV allowing students to make the most of each exercise.

EASY TO OPERATE

The heart of the control for all this magic is the AMX interface. For Jonathan McFarlane, Audio Visual Engineer at the ASAM, making an advanced system operator friendly is a paramount achievement. “The AMX interface has been designed to be easy to use and even our most complex system can be operated by a standard user,” he said. ”I often walk past a room to find someone rehearsing their presentation with the interactive whiteboard or testing the system to see what is it is capable of. It’s great to see users getting so hands-on and taking the time to learn how to operate the AV system. I think this stems from a sense of ownership the scholars and academics have from being so involved in this project from the very beginning.”

There is an appreciable buzz and sense of excitement felt when walking through the facility. Despite the experience gained by students learning in such an environment, the ability to review hands-on lessons via an elegant and unobtrusive AV system cannot be underestimated. “AV technology is such an essential part of the educational programs here, particularly for assessment and peer review,” McFarlane said. “I’m in a position where I get to help users develop ideas on what they can do with this technology. It is refreshing having a focus on development rather than technical support and ‘break/fix’ work. This part of an AV project can often be overlooked, in that the contractors pack up their tools, the design consultant moves onto the next job and the client is left with an AV system that they don’t really know what to do with. AV is more than projecting a computer image and I am really trying to push that here.”

RUDE HEALTH

And the human input to such a system is not lost on Professor Cartmill. “Jonathon McFarlane has been able to take the facility and extend its capacity in insightful creative ways that go well beyond the original brief. He listens, interprets, explains… makes things happen in a patient and robust way. Jonathon has an eye for appearance and detail that I lack and his systematic ‘engineering’ mind is the perfect balance to the spontaneity. He is just terrific and without him I doubt that we would really have an AV system.”

Hospital equipment supplier Stryker was responsible for the overall installation, with Chad Wihelm and Chris Szeleczky at the helm. The extensive AMX programming was completed by Matthew Taylor and Keith Austen from AT Controls. The school itself has set a new benchmark in the way AV integrates with teaching at this level. It’s unobtrusive, effective and more importantly user friendly. The technology as applied does not get in the way of its usefulness, with its back-end complexity hidden from the operator. While being a showcase for the way AV can be intertwined to augment such teaching, it is also a showcase as to how AV technology can be effectively deployed in a unique and fascinating field.