Exploring the heart in mixed reality with Complete HeartX

Elsevier, a global leader in evidence-based clinical practice content, research publishing and information analytics, today announced its new mixed reality medical education app, Complete HeartX opens in new tab/window, which has is being showcased as one of the featured apps for the Apple Vision Pro during the recent Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) opens in new tab/window.

Today’s medical students face limited access to hands-on clinical experiences and cadavers for their studies. Medical schools continue to face challenges in providing a clear way to connect the study of anatomy to clinical material and hands-on practice of critical clinical skills. Mixed reality can offer a new approach to supplement this training and shape the future of healthcare. 

Complete HeartX is the start of a series of spatial experiences helping medical schools to envision a way to better prepare students for clinical rotations and help develop practical skills. It allows students to learn about and explore the heart before being placed in an immersive mixed reality environment where they can experience a full ventricular fibrillation scenario from understanding the physiology and diagnosing EKG readings to shock delivery. 

The life-like case provided in Complete HeartX challenges students to complete tasks under pressure, mimicking real moments in the emergency department. It also helps students master complex physiological concepts, gain confidence managing serious arrhythmias, and make choices that can save lives — all within a low-risk mixed reality simulation.