Feinberg
Northwestern Medicine | Northwestern University | Faculty Profiles

News Center

  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Releases
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Menu
  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Releases
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Home » Feinberg Professor turns iPad into Virtual Larynx for Intubation Training
Uncategorized

Feinberg Professor turns iPad into Virtual Larynx for Intubation Training

By medwebJul 27, 2012
Share
Facebook Twitter Email

Raymond Glassenberg, MD, associate professor in anesthesiology, uses the iLarynx app, which provides a virtual reality for learning to use a fiberoptic bronchoscope.

Raymond Glassenberg, MD, ’75, associate professor in anesthesiology, has taught the principles of airway intubation in hundreds of settings, but recently, he developed a tool for students to learn while riding the Red Line, sitting at home, or relaxing between classes.

Inventor of the iPad app iLarynx, Glassenberg removed a tablet computer from his briefcase to illustrate just how useful the teaching tool could be. Rather than tie up a $15,000 fiberoptic bronchoscope, or use a $30,000 virtual reality simulation mannequin, the doctor worked with his son, a software designer, to develop a three-dimensional representation of the human airway.

Giving students a view identical to the tiny scope used during fiberoptic intubation, iLarynx utilizes the iPad’s accelerometer, or sensitivity to movement, to simulate the feel of rotating the device for proper alignment. Touch screen buttons advance the scope into the trachea as users move through the larynx, around the uvula, and under the epiglottis to have a view of the vocal cords. The app provides no set pathways, and a misstep causes the “patient” to cough and the screen to become fogged over. Successful intubation ends each exercise.

“We needed a means of teaching the residents how to use a fiberoptic bronchoscope,” Glassenberg said. “This app provides a different educational tool. It’s skills learning rather than didactic teaching.”

Raymond Glassenberg, MD, associate professor in anesthesiology, worked with his son to invent an iPad app that simulates airway intubation.

Since being offered for free a few months ago, iLarynx has been downloaded more than 10,000 times and was recognized by the Society for Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology with a best in education award. It was also named one of the top 10 free iPad medical apps by iMedicalApps.com.

“The app provides a feel for what we do in the hospital,” Glassenberg said. “It very closely replicates the real world.”

After approaching his son Sam to bring the app to the iPad, Glassenberg determined three distinct scenarios that iLarynx should replicate: a normal patient with spontaneous breathing; a patient given muscle relaxers so that the vocal cords aren’t moving; and a patient with a tumor.

To test the iLarynx’s usefulness, he conducted a research project where half of a group of medical students had 20 minutes to work with the app, while the other half were exposed to pictures illustrating the anatomy of the larynx. When both groups were given the opportunity to use a real scope on an airway mannequin, the app-exposed students fared much better in developing the proper level of dexterity.

Having developed video games for the “Star Wars” film series, and having managed a game platform at Microsoft, Sam Glassenberg was well aware of the 3D technology that makes iLarynx so successful. Comparing use of the app to keeping a virtual race car on the track, Glassenberg is proud to have paired his son’s gaming knowledge with 34 years of experience at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

“We are currently working on other scenarios to make the app an even better addition to the learning process,” Glassenberg said. “While books hold didactic information and the protocol for how to hold a scope, a $30,000 virtual reality mannequin cannot do what this thing does because the iPad has an accelerometer and can be easily turned 180 degrees offering a realistic feel for how the bronchoscope reacts. As for the success, I am completely amazed by it.”

Education Medical Education
Share. Facebook Twitter Email

Related Posts

Mar 29, 2023

Adolescent Sexual Health Program Receives Funding for Social Marketing Campaign

Mar 29, 2023

AOA Honors New Members

Mar 20, 2023

Celebrating Feinberg’s 2023 Match Day

Mar 17, 2023

Comments are closed.

Latest News

Self-Powered Wireless Implant Delivers Medication, Then Dissolves

Mar 30, 2023

Adolescent Sexual Health Program Receives Funding for Social Marketing Campaign

Mar 29, 2023

The Future of IgE-Mediated Allergy Research and Treatments

Mar 29, 2023

Weintraub Appointed to Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Elder Law

Mar 28, 2023

Investigating Protein’s Role in Hearing Loss

Mar 27, 2023
  • News Center Home
  • Categories
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
  • News Archives
  • About Us
Flickr Photos
20230317_NM651
20230317_NM610
20230317_NM569
20230317_NM537
20230317_NM331
20230317_NM323
20230317_NM316
20230317_NM336
20230317_NM626
20230317_NM662
20230317_NM655
20230317_NM642

Northwestern University logo

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

RSS Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr YouTube Instagram
Copyright © 2023 Northwestern University
  • Contact Northwestern University
  • Disclaimer
  • Campus Emergency Information
  • Policy Statements

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.