Digital Media student creates animated video for Dublin Eye & Ear Hospital

Friday, October 16, 2015 Press Office
Press Release

A second year Digital Media student from GMIT Mayo was involved in the creation of a short animated video for the Royal Victoria Eye & Ear Hospital (RVEEH) website on how to use ear drops. The video, which can be viewed on http://www.rveeh.ie/content/patient-information, was a collaborative effort by a member of staff and a student on the Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Digital Media & Society programme at GMIT Mayo.

 

Lecturing staff on the programme were approached by a clinical nurse specialist in the hospital, Patricia Murray, who works in the Accident and Emergency Unit. Ms Murray was looking for a way to promote to patients how to correctly use eardrops.  The task was set as a module exercise and students produced a number of videos which were whittled down to two by their lecturer, Dr Attracta Brennan.

 

Patricia Murray, clinical nurse specialist, says staff and patients are delighted with the end video: “Many thanks to lecturer Attracta Brennan and her team of media students in GMIT for their work in compiling our video on drop instillation.  This visual patient information is an initiative which will greatly enhance education already provided to patients who avail of our service.”

 

Second year students on the B.Sc (Hons) in Digital Media & Society take a module called Digital Media 2. As part of this module, they are introduced to both the principles and practices of animation and exposed to a number of packages including a white board animation package.

Ms Murray provided the sequence of steps outlining the correct use of eye drops, and all students created a video. Two were selected by lecturer Dr Attracta Brennan, those of student Tom Timlin from Castlebar and Mark Ruane from Foxford. Their animations were passed onto Patricia who chose Mark's submission.

Dr Brennan worked with Mark and Patricia to polish Mark’s animation to fine-tune synchronization and imagery, resulting in the final video available on the RVEEH website. ”It has been a great learning experience for the students, involving direct collaboration with one of our stakeholders in the Health Service,” says Dr Brennan.