title: A retrospective review of TATRC funding for medical modeling and simulation technologies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  In February 2000, the U.S. Army's Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center (TATRC) and the U.S. Army's Simulation, Training, and Instrumentation Command cohosted an Integrated Research Team conference in Maryland. The goal of the conference was to enable end users, researchers, materiel developers, and other government agencies to present their conceptions of how modeling and simulation could and should be developed to meet military medical needs. During the past 9 years, TATRC has funded more than 175 projects relating to simulation.
  
  
  METHODS
  This study was a retrospective review of TATRC's Modeling and Simulation Training projects (N = 175).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our results show that most (>75%) of the funded projects in this study involved industry. More than 85% of the projects that involved industry focused on technology development. Industry development projects seemed to meet their deliverables in a timely fashion. However, academia projects using industry-developed technologies and prototypes were delayed largely because the technologies did not meet their needs.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  There seems to be a measurable gap between industry's definition of a completed product technology and academia's ability to implement and use the technology in interactive learning environments. Our findings support the need for a standardized strategic design process that involves a strong industry-academia collaboration and early end-user testing to better facilitate the development of sound requirements that guide technology development.
authors.affiliation: Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL 60611, USA. drpugh@northwestern.edu
authors.forename: Carla M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Pugh
authors.forename: Matthew G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Bevan
authors.forename: Rebecca J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Duve
authors.forename: Heather L
authors.initials: HL
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: J Harvey
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Magee
authors.forename: Gene B
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Wiehagen
mesh_terms: D026683:Advisory Committees; D003162:Competency-Based Education; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003226:Congresses as Topic; D008887:Military Medicine / Q000193:education*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014146:Training Support / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States