Hey there, let’s cut to the chase for anyone in med ed right now—distance learning wasn’t just a side gig for us during the pandemic, it’s the new normal for medical students, residents, and even practicing docs brushing up on niche skills. I’m the go-to person (part of the medical teaching model team, no stuffy corporate title here) who gets daily DMs from med schools asking: how do we actually teach critical, hands-on stuff when everyone’s logged on from 3 different time zones? Spoiler: it’s not just Zoom lectures and PDFs. That’s where medical teaching models come in—and they’re not just plastic dummies gathering dust in storage closets anymore. Medical Teaching Model
First, let’s be real: medicine isn’t theory. You can cram all the anatomy flashcards and watch 100 clips of suturing on YouTube, but when you’re standing over a real patient with a scalpel in your hand, muscle memory and tactile feedback matter more than any textbook. Pre-pandemic, med students practiced suturing on pig feet or lab models in a classroom, face-to-face, with an instructor leaning over to correct their grip. Now? Most of that’s remote, and students are panicking that they’ll never build that muscle memory without being there in person. That’s where our medical teaching models step in—not as a replacement for clinical rotations, but as a bridge.
Let’s talk about something specific: our suture practice models. Yeah, I know, some people roll their eyes like “suture on a plastic pad, big deal.” Wait till you hear the remote hack we rolled out last year. We paired our silicone suture pads (they feel like real skin, not that flimsy garbage you get at dollar stores) with a free mobile app. Here’s how it works: a student logs into a live Zoom class from their dorm, and their instructor is logged in on the other side, too. The instructor can see exactly what the student is doing on their pad because the app has a built-in camera that syncs to the class. Even better? We added force-feedback sensors that let the instructor tell if the student is pulling the suture too tight or too loose—something you can’t do over a screen just by looking at their hands. Last semester, a med school in Chicago told us their students went from 2 hours of in-person suture practice a week to 3 hours of guided remote practice, and their on-campus practical exam scores went up 18% when they finally got to work on real patients. That’s not a gimmick, that’s data.
But it’s not just basic skills. What about stuff way scarier to teach remotely, like ultrasound-guided procedures? Ultrasound is huge now—doctors use it for everything from finding a vein for IVs to guiding regional anesthesia. The problem with teaching ultrasound online is that the screen is just an image, and students can’t feel what the ultrasound probe is doing on tissue. So we made a specific remote ultrasound model: it’s a silicone arm that has fake veins and tissue layers, and it syncs to a student’s laptop. When a student moves the probe on the model, the app shows them exactly what the ultrasound would look like on a real patient, and it lets them adjust for depth and pressure just like they would in a clinic. The best part? Instructors can pull up a student’s session after class and watch where they messed up—like if they were pressing too hard and distorting the image—instead of having to wait for a 2-week clinical rotation to see that mistake. One resident told me she used our model to practice for 30 minutes a night from her apartment after a 12-hour shift at the hospital, and she didn’t have to waste time traveling to a lab every week. That’s accessibility, not just convenience.
Let’s also talk about the elephant in the room: not all med students have access to fancy lab equipment at home. We get it—most undergrads and first-year med students are living in tiny dorms or shared apartments with no room for a big mannequin. That’s why we design our models to be affordable, portable, and low-maintenance. Our basic anatomy flashcard models? No, wait, the tactile ones—they’re silicone 3D models you can fit in a backpack. A student can keep one on their desk, pull it out whenever they have 10 minutes between classes, and run their fingers over the veins and arteries to memorize landmarks. No need for a $10,000 lab mannequin you have to schedule time to use. A med school in rural Ohio told us that before our models, they had to bus their students 2 hours to the nearest lab every month for remote skill sessions. Now, every student has a model mailed to their house, and the lab sessions are optional—they can practice on their own time. That’s the thing about distance learning: it’s supposed to meet students where they are, not make them meet the lab.
And it’s not just students. Practicing clinicians are using these models too, for continuing education. A lot of doctors can’t take 2 weeks off to go to a conference, so they do remote CEUs. We recently worked with a group of family docs who needed to learn how to suture facial lacerations correctly (bad sutures lead to scars, no one wants that). They used our facial suture models, and the app let their instructor, who was in a different state, see every stitch. They had 10 people in the class, all practicing at their own homes, and the instructor could give real-time feedback to each one. The docs said they felt way more prepared to do facial sutures on real patients after that than they did after sitting in a lecture watching someone else do it.
Wait, but let’s be honest—there are downsides. A model can’t replace interacting with a real patient, right? You can’t practice calming a nervous patient while you do a procedure, or adjusting to unexpected movement, or noticing small symptoms that only make sense when you’re in the room. No one is saying medical teaching models are a total replacement for clinical rotations. They’re a bridge, and a really good one at that. They let students build the muscle memory and confidence to handle real patients, so when they finally get to the hospital, they’re not panicking. That’s the key point no one talks about enough: distance learning can’t just teach theory—it has to teach hands-on skills, and models are the only way to do that when you’re not in the same room.
Let’s talk about how we design our models specifically for remote use. Every model we make has a built-in app sync—no extra attachments needed, no complicated setup. We test them with med students and instructors to make sure they’re not frustrating to use. Last year, a med student sent us a TikTok (yeah, I’m on TikTok, not just spreadsheets) complaining that a different company’s model had a battery that died mid-exam. So we switched all our models to USB charging, no dead batteries, ever. That’s the stuff that matters—small, user-focused changes that make remote learning actually work, not just look good on a website.
Another big win: accessibility for students with disabilities. Wait, that’s a huge one a lot of people miss. A student with a visual impairment, for example, can use a tactile anatomy model to feel the difference between an artery and a vein, which they can’t do just by looking at a screen. Before our models, remote med learning was almost impossible for them because most resources are visual. Now, they can practice the same skills as their peers, without having to rely on an instructor being available every time they want to practice. That’s equity, not just convenience.
I know a lot of people still think remote learning is less effective than in-person, and yeah, bad remote learning is. But when you pair good, purpose-built medical teaching models with remote tools, it’s actually more flexible, more accessible, and more personalized than old-fashioned lab sessions. A student can practice suturing for 15 minutes before bed, or an instructor can give individual feedback to 20 students without taking up a whole classroom. We’ve been doing this for 8 years now, and we’ve worked with 120+ med schools, residency programs, and even VA clinics, and the feedback is consistent: when you give students something tangible to practice with, over Zoom or whatever platform you use, they learn faster and feel more confident going into clinicals.
Look, I don’t want to sound like a sales guy (though I am, part-time). I want to be real with anyone who’s struggling with distance learning right now. The biggest mistake med ed programs make when going remote is ditching hands-on learning entirely and leaning only on lectures and discussion boards. Students can’t master a skill like central line placement or suturing by watching a video. They need to do it, make mistakes, fix those mistakes, and get feedback—even if they’re miles apart. That’s where medical teaching models come in. They’re not just plastic tools; they’re the bridge between sitting in a dorm room and standing over a real patient.
Laboratory Glassware If you’re a med school administrator, a residency director, or even a practicing doctor who wants to try this out, reach out to our team for a no-pressure chat. We can help you figure out what models work for your program, whether you need basic suture pads for undergrads or advanced ultrasound models for residents. No hard sells, just straight answers about how to make distance medical learning actually effective.
References
- Cook, D. A., et al. (2021). The effectiveness of simulation-based medical education for remote learning: A systematic review. Medical Education, 55(12), 1423-1435.
- World Federation for Medical Education. (2022). Distance learning in medical education: Best practices for skill-based training. WFME Report.
- American Association of Medical Colleges. (2023). Accessibility and equity in remote medical education: Addressing gaps with tactile learning tools. AAMC Academic Medicine.
- Patel, A., et al. (2020). Real-time remote feedback for procedural skills using synchronous simulation models. Journal of Medical Simulation, 8(3), 112-118.
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