Lesson Plan: Heart Failure with Visible Body Courseware
Heart failure is unfortunately an extremely common health problem—for example, it’s been estimated that 6.7 million adults in the US over the age of 20 have heart failure. Future healthcare professionals need to understand heart failure not only to pass their exams, but to treat this condition and save lives.
In this blog post, we will outline a heart failure lesson using the 3D models and assignments in Visible Body Courseware.
In this lesson, students will learn:
- The anatomy and physiology of the heart
- The different kinds of heart failure
- The causes of heart failure
- Questions to ask patients
Before Class
Understanding heart failure requires knowledge of the anatomy and physiology of the heart, so students need to brush up on their A&P basics before they dive into new content.
For homework before class, assign the premade lab “The Heart” to refresh them on key structures. The “Heart Conduction and the ECG” lab is another premade assignment you may want to consider, since the ECG is a useful tool for determining if the heart is under stress.
Premade heart lab assignment in Courseware.
In Courseware assignments, students will work their way through a sequence of activities and short quizzes in an “on the rails” experience designed to deliver a lot of knowledge through bite-sized pieces. In this assignment, your students will explore a variety of interactive 3D models and animations to understand heart anatomy and function as well as blood flow through the heart.
Lecture with VB Suite
Visible Body Suite, included as part of Courseware, has a robust library of content, but for this lesson, the interactive beating heart model is the star of the show!
The beating heart model in VB Suite.
In this section, we’ll show you how to use the beating heart model (and others) to walk your students through the different types of heart failure.
First, from the Courseware menu, click on “My Apps” and select VB Suite. Browse or just type “beating heart” into the search bar to view the model.
Click on any structure to read its name and definition. You can click on the Hide button to simulate a dissection, or you can click the Fade button to see through the structure.
In the bottom left corner, you can pause the animation, adjust the BPM, view a simulated ECG, and toggle blood, blood flow, conduction, and heart sounds to customize your experience.
The beating heart model shows a healthy heart, so in order to walk your students through heart failure, we will use the Draw tool to get creative. The Draw tool allows you to, well, draw in 3D. You can add freehand drawing, squares and circles, or arrows in a variety of colors.
Instructors can use these annotations to illustrate a variety of concepts—for example, you can use arrows to show backwards blood flow.
Using the Draw tool and the Notes feature to jot down key terms, walk your students through the differences between right-sided and left-sided heart failure and between systolic and diastolic heart failure.
Annotation tools in in VB Suite.
You can annotate as you lecture, or you can prepare beforehand by creating a Tour. A Tour is a connected series of custom Views in VB Suite—imagine an interactive PowerPoint presentation. You can share your Tour with your students so they can review it before or after the lesson.
Now that students understand what heart failure is, they can explore its causes. Heart failure can be caused by several cardiovascular conditions, and VB Suite has models and bite-sized animations to illustrate pathologies such as coronary artery disease, arteriosclerosis, hypertension, and mitral valve prolapse.
Atherosclerosis model in VB Suite.
This will lead us into the next activity!
Clinical Setting Practice
Use the pathology models and animations as a jumping off point to discuss how heart failure presents in a clinical setting, including:
- Edema
- Sputum production
- Cough
- Dyspnea
- Chest pain
As you do so, ask your students to think critically about why heart failure is connected to those symptoms—for example, ask your students to explain why heart failure causes fluid buildup.
Next, separate your students into pairs. In this clinical roleplay, they will use what they’ve learned about the symptoms of heart failure: one student will roleplay as someone presenting with chest pain while their partner roleplays as the health professional.
Students can start with the PQRST mnemonic, taken here from the open source Medical-Surgical Nursing textbook:
- P: what provokes or relieves the chest pain (chest pain from poor coronary perfusion is exacerbated by activity and relieved by rest)?
- Q: what is the quality of your pain (chest pain from ischemia is described as a dull ache in the chest or in the arms)?
- R: what region and does it radiate?
- S: have the patient identify the severity of pain?.
- T: timing, when did it begin? The patient may be experiencing ischemic chest pain or a myocardial infarction.
If there is enough time in class, students can go into more depth with the subjective assessment questions and follow-ups found here.
Read More
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