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TCAT Dickson Purchases Virtual Dissection Tables with Grant Funds
By Janine Wine
Communications and Marketing Coordinator
TCAT Dickson
Tennessee College of Applied Technology - Dickson (TCAT Dickson) students enrolled in one of the colleges’ four healthcare related fields will now have opportunities to utilize life-size virtual dissection tables as a learning tool thanks to grant funds.
Two Anatomage tables valued at more than $100,000 each were purchased. One table will remain on the main campus in Dickson and the other will be housed at the Clarksville extension campus.
Instructors received training April 24 on how the tables work and the endless ways to incorporate the tables into their instructional plans. Previously, students had to rely on their instructors to set up tours at other schools to see these tables but beginning this month, Dickson and Clarksville students can access the technology on their local campuses.
Practical Nursing, Patient Care Technology / Medical Assisting, Dental Assisting, and Pharmacy Technology programs on both campuses will benefit from the purchase.
Stephanie Murphy, Director of Nursing and Healthcare Careers at TCAT Dickson said, “The Anatomage tables are going to add an exciting element to the education we provide in TCAT Dickson’s nursing and allied health programs. Students will have the opportunity to engage with real life images and views of the human body that could not be seen in classrooms of the past.”
Advertised as the most technologically advanced 3D anatomy visualization system for anatomy and physiology education, the tables are completely interactive offering five gross anatomy cases, forty high resolution regional anatomy cases, and more than 1,600 pathological examples.
Master Instructor Kristen Moffitt believes her third-term Practical Nursing students will benefit from the Anatomage table because the three-dimensional views of the anatomy will allow her to teach anatomy like never before. “This is the newest hands-on view of the anatomy and is the closest thing to the CT scan with the ability to teach students.” Moffitt explained. She likes the versatility the Anatomage table provides, allowing her to show skeletal or nervous systems with or without the vascular system.
Jamillah Osorio completed the practical nursing program at TCAT Dickson fifteen years ago. Now, she teaches Patient Care Technology / Medical Assisting at the Clarksville campus. “The Anatomage table would have been a tremendous help when I went through the LPN program. I’m glad my career has come full circle and now that I’m back at TCAT as an instructor, I will be sure to take full advantage of the Anatomage table and its features for my students,” Osorio said.
The table is designed to lay horizontally where students can gather around it like a patient in a bed, or it can stand vertically where instructors can better show examples to their students in classroom or laboratory settings.
Misty Swift welcomes the advanced technology and the experience her students will have versus using traditional photos from a textbook. Swift is one of two Practical Nursing instructors on the Clarksville campus. “These tables will allow students to understand things that cannot be seen other than in a photo. Other training tools are limited in options. This (Anatomage table) will give the students a more realistic insight to the human body,” Swift explained.
Instructors are excited about the innovative technology the tables offer and being able to integrate that technology into their classrooms immediately. “The future of anatomy education has never looked brighter,” according to veteran instructor Kathy Sugg. A graduate of TCAT Dickson’s Practical Nursing program, Sugg spent years working in the nursing field before joining the TCAT Dickson Practical Nursing instruction team in 2012. She currently teaches first-term Practical Nursing at the Dickson campus. “It’s not just about learning; it’s about transforming the way we interact with the human body” Sugg said.
TCAT Dickson’s healthcare careers programs can be completed in one year or less and are designed to help students enter the workforce with high-quality skills in a short amount of time. Free, in-person information sessions are held at both campuses throughout the year. Perspective students can contact the main campus at 615-441-6220 for additional information, to schedule a free tour, or to register for classes.
TCAT Dickson is a Tennessee Board of Regents institution, is accredited by the Council on Occupational Education, and complies with non-discrimination laws: Title VI, Title IX, Section 504, and ADA. Located on Highway 46 in Dickson, the technical training college also has extension campuses in Clarksville, and Franklin. Additional information about the school is located at www.TCATDickson.edu.
Healthcare careers instructors from TCAT Dickson’s main and Clarksville campuses recently trained on how to use new Anatomage tables the college purchased from grant funds. The tables, valued at more than $100,000 each were incorporated into the curriculum of four of the colleges programs this month.
Staff and faculty from TCAT Dickson’s main and Clarksville campuses try out one of the new Anatomage tables the college purchased using grant funds. One of the tables will be housed at the main campus in Dickson while the other will be housed on the extension campus in Clarksville.
TCAT Dickson Director of Nursing and Healthcare Careers along with faculty from the main campus in Dickson and extension campus in Clarksville trained on the new Anatomage tables the college purchased. These instructors teach Practical Nursing, Patient Care Technology / Medical Assisting, Dental Assisting, and Pharmacy Technology for the college.
