97 - Systematic Review of the Educational Impact of 3D Printed Cardiovascular Anatomy Models

Poster Board Number: 97
There are separate poster presentation times for odd and even posters.
Odd poster #s – first hour
Even poster #s – second hour

Co-authors:

Gorune Geloian - Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine; Ngan Nguyen - Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine

Abstract Body : Introduction and Objective
Three-dimensional (3D) printing has emerged as an innovative teaching tool in medical education. This systematic review aims to summarize existing evidence on the educational outcomes of 3D printed models of cardiovascular anatomy for healthcare professional students, trainees and providers compared to traditional models. The ROI Methodology was used to categorize educational outcomes into levels, with level 1 = reaction, level 2 = learning, level 3 = application/behavior change, level 4 = impact, and level 5 = return on investment.

Materials and Methods:
The PRISMA 2020 statement was used to guide the conduct of the systematic review. A comprehensive search of 4 databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science) was performed using a combination of keywords and subject terms. Two investigators screened the titles and abstracts of the studies against inclusion criteria followed by full text screening. Narrative themes were collected, analyzed and summarized.

Results
645 abstracts were imported into Covidence, a systematic review management software. Of those abstracts, 73 were selected for full-text screening, and a final set of 17 met the criteria for data extraction. Of the 17 studies, 6 (35%) modeled normal cardiovascular anatomy and 11 (65%) modeled pathologic cardiovascular anatomy. 16/17 (94%) studies showed outcomes at level 2 and one study demonstrated outcomes at level 4.

Conclusion: Most studies that compared 3D printed cardiovascular models to traditional models showed an impact on learning (level 2), indicating a gap in understanding of knowledge transfer to the job (level 3), changes in healthcare and business metrics (level 4), and ROI (level 5) in 3D printing for cardiovascular anatomy education. All of the studies involving pathologic anatomy modeled congenital heart defects, indicating these conditions are most commonly utilized in the evaluation of the 3D printed models utility. Of the studies that modeled normal cardiac anatomy, half included cross sections of typical echocardiography views, which may serve as potential avenues for evaluating higher level (3,4,5) educational outcomes.

Significance: Despite the increase in the use of 3D printed models of cardiovascular anatomy for healthcare professional education, there is limited evidence demonstrating the benefits of these models compared to traditional teaching methods. To fill these gaps, significant increases in research will need to be done at higher levels of evaluation.