Mushtaq Haroon, Ramona Haroon.
Computer Based Learning of Cardiac Sounds and Murmurs.
Ann King Edward Med Uni Jan ;5(1):62-4.

It is most important that students learning cardiology are trained cardiac auscultation on the bedside on actual patients, but this is not always possible. Recording various sounds and murmurs and their reproduction on the computer in a graphic presentation serves as a good alternate. Our study demonstrates that this is an effective, ingenious and acceptable alternative. Conclusion: Computer based medical education is an effective method of teaching and serves to stimulate the student into interacting with the simulated patient in a game like fashion. This is especially true in cardiology, which is difficult to learn at the undergraduate level. The students hear the sounds and at the same time see the phonocardiographic representation in the real time. This makes complex sounds easy to understand where the abnormality can be instantly identified through simultaneous auditory and visual aid. Once the student understands the basic foundations the process becomes easy. Computer technology has helped the process of understanding cardiac sounds and murmurs. This technology should be freely used in conjugation with traditional bedside teaching. Ths students should become familiar with this technology to gain the maximum benefit. The future of education lies in part in the proper use of this technology especially where patients are not readily available or where the ratio of the number of student to patient is unacceptably high.

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