Birth Simulator Will Help Doctors Prepare For Live Births

Computers are slowly taking over the world; in a good way, of course. Doctors and midwives will soon have access to a new virtual reality tool that could help them immensely as they prepare to deliver babies in the future. For years, they have had to use models as they prepared for births, but that could all soon be changing in the next decade. After all, you can only learn so much from a model.

A team of individuals in England have created a 3D birth simulator that allows doctors and midwives to really get a picture of what’s happening inside during a live birth.

The First Of Its Kind

This live birth simulator is truly the first of its kind as it will allow patient specific information to be imported into it. Doctors will be able to scan an expectant mother’s body and input her information into the simulator. Doctors can also choose to input a mother’s past birth experiences in order to get a more accurate birth simulation experience. This birth simulator will allow doctors to prepare for all kinds of  birth scenarios, and will be invaluable in high-risk pregnancy situations when the outcomes are so uncertain.

The potential and possibilities for this live birth simulator seem endless. If nothing else, it’s value for future training purposes cannot be overstated.

As of right now, the software is still fairly limited, but the developers hope to add to it within the year. For instance, as of right now, the baby on the simulator can only perform 3 of the usual 7 movements that occur during most births. The software also only includes one baby and one pelvis. But this is definitely a step in the right direction, and one can only hope that this birth simulator will help an innumerable amount of people in the years to come.

[Image via Huffington Post]

SOURCE: http://www.livescience.com/41678-virtual-birth-simulator-helps-doctors-prepare.html