Movie special-effects technology used in real-world medical training
MAR 18, 2011
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.025145
The Independent : A medical trainer and a Hollywood special-effects artist have teamed up to produce more realistic training dummies for university hospitals. Jane Kleinman, who trains future doctors and nurses at Loma Linda Hospital in East Los Angeles, got the idea to form the company Simureal when she saw the realistic scene in the movie 127 Hours in which James Franco’s character amputates his own arm with a blunt penknife. Kleinman tracked down the arm’s creator, Tony Gardner, and together they are using his state-of-the-art expertise to create silicone training aids. “It’s incredible for a guy like me, who’s worked in film for years, to realize that the stuff we do can also affect people in the real world, in a life-or-death situation,” said Gardner at his workshop in the LA suburb of Irwindale last week.
© 2011. American Institute of Physics