Advances in Physiology Education, Vol 261, Issue 6 25-S29, Copyright © 1991 by American Physiological Society
Ventilatory control (Ventrol) simulation for education
J. Boyle 3rd
Department of Physiology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, New Jersey Medical School, Newark 07103.
An educational microcomputer-based simulation of respiratory control has
been developed. The program contains three major sections: tutorial,
stimulation, and unknown testing. The tutorial section provides a brief
discussion of the major factors involved in respiratory control. The
simulation section provides a menu of variables to demonstrate the effects
of altering inspired gases, changing compliance or airway resistance,
metabolic acidosis, neural activity, and lesions (including vagotomy) or
exercise. The last section of the program allows students to test their
understanding of abnormal respiratory and blood gas values. The program has
been used as a problem-solving exercise in a medical physiology course.
Student groups were assigned to a microcomputer and given a specific
problem during a regularly scheduled laboratory period. The students
collected data using the program, analyzed and graphed or tabulated the
results, and presented their findings in a minisymposium format to their
fellow students. This approach has proven valuable and provides a number of
pedagogical benefits that are lacking in a lecture-based basic science
curriculum.
