SMARTDRAW IN THE MEDICAL FIELD:

Creating Medical Training Diagrams for Scuba-Diving Paramedics

In too Deep
Dr. Guppy was in charge of providing training materials for teams of Diver Medical Technician (DMT) paramedics. He was looking for a fast and easy way to create accurate medical diagrams to be used in training and certifying divers.

"DMT paramedics are deployed worldwide, many in remote locations," said Guppy. "In emergency situations, the diver paramedic needs to respond quickly so that he or she can take appropriate medical action."

Many of the divers know English only as a second language, so the appropriate medical diagrams are very helpful in overcoming the usual communication barriers. However, Guppy didn't have an easy way to make these diagrams.

"We were having to review medical texts and publications, and pay for copyrights," said Guppy. "In some cases, we had to draw freehand diagrams!"

A colleague suggested he try SmartDraw.

Sink or Swim
Guppy and his team were impressed with SmartDraw's extensive symbol collection, including several thousand textbook-quality medical and anatomy images.

"The medical images are very accurate," said Guppy.

They found that they were able to create medical diagrams and protocols very quickly—without ever using the SmartDraw tutorials. In fact, they were able to create drawings that they simply couldn't make before, significantly improving the quality of their work.

"We found that using the symbol libraries saved us an incalculable amount of time," said Guppy. "We could even use SmartDraw for formatting our manuals and text covers."

To the Rescue
Guppy's team now uses SmartDraw weekly to create medical diagrams for the DMTs. SmartDraw is so easy to use that they are able to create professional-looking diagrams on the fly.

Paramedics aren't the only ones noticing the great-looking medical diagrams. Guppy's team was recently recognized by a Certification and Accreditation Agency for their high-quality materials.

"Today, it would be very difficult without SmartDraw," he said. "To produce training support materials without this software would require us to hire more dedicated graphic artists, or to outsource the work."

SmartDraw allows him to get the job done, without having any graphic design skills.

"With SmartDraw, we can quickly create support materials to complement the training and DMT support requirements," said Guppy. "It's impressive!"