Veterans’ Health Education Coordinators (VHECs) and clinicians across the VA’s VISN 8 are using the Nucleus Medical Art Library (NMAL) in everyday patient care—and they’re seeing results.
Every day, healthcare professionals explain complex procedures, diagnoses and treatment options that can be difficult for patients to fully understand. Medical terminology is complex. Emotions often run high. And even the best verbal explanation may not be remembered once a patient leaves the exam room.
That’s why many clinicians are turning to visual learning.
The Nucleus Medical Art Library (NMAL) is a comprehensive library of medically accurate illustrations, 3D images, and professionally narrated animations that help transform complex medical concepts into clear, engaging visual explanations.
With more than 10,000 professional medical illustrations, 1,100 3D animations, and content covering hundreds of diseases, conditions and procedures, NMAL has become an important patient education resource for healthcare organizations across the country.
VA Provider Spotlight
Within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, clinicians throughout VISN 8 are using NMAL in practical, meaningful ways to help Veterans better understand their health and participate more confidently in their care.
Among the healthcare professionals using NMAL are:
- Dr. Dana Glenn, Director of Women’s Health, James A. Haley Women’s Center (Tampa)
- Dr. David Whitaker, Deputy Chief of Staff and Director of the Heart Valve Clinic, Tampa VA Medical Center
- Jessica Greene, RDN, Veterans Health Education Coordinator (VHEC), Tampa VA Medical Center
- Lee Newball, Veterans Health Education Coordinator (VHEC), Orlando VA Medical Center
Although their specialties differ, each uses NMAL to accomplish the same objective: helping Veterans better understand complex medical information through visual communication. Each has witnessed a marked improvement in patient comprehension, thereby increasing compliance and patient satisfaction.
Women’s Health: Supporting Patient Decisions
For Dr. Dana Glenn, NMAL is integrated directly into patient consultations. When discussing infertility, reproductive health, or treatment options, Dr. Glenn first explains the available options during the consultation.
She then reinforces those conversations using NMAL animations that visually demonstrate the concepts being discussed. Patients can even access the same content later through the VA’s virtual care platform, allowing them to revisit the information after returning home.
She shared a patient reaction she’s become accustomed to hearing, explaining, “They say, ‘Very helpful, amazing graphics! This is incredible to see how to body functions” – that is the reaction (I hear) to the video on cardiovascular disease. It helps motivate people to make positive changes.”
This combination of physician expertise and visual education helps patients better understand their options while supporting shared decision-making throughout the care process
Cardiology: Explaining Complex Heart Conditions
Heart valve disorders can be difficult to explain using words alone. At the Tampa VA Medical Center’s Heart Valve Clinic, Dr. David Whitaker routinely uses NMAL illustrations and animations during consultations
He says that he typically uses it to explain aortic and mitral valve disorders, demonstrate how these conditions affect heart function, and discuss treatment options with patients. The impact is reflected in the feedback he hears from Veterans:
“My patients almost unanimously say, ‘It was very helpful to understand things better.’ Routinely, I hear, ‘That is the best explanation of my issue that I’ve ever heard. No one has ever explained it this way.'”
By making difficult cardiovascular concepts easier to visualize, NMAL helps patients better understand their diagnosis and participate more confidently in treatment decisions.
Improving Health Literacy Through Visual Learning
As a Registered Dietitian and Veterans Health Education Coordinator, Jessica Greene has seen firsthand how powerful visual learning can be.
Many Veterans arrive anxious about an upcoming procedure or struggle to picture what is happening inside their bodies. Others simply learn better through visual demonstrations than written materials.
For Greene, NMAL provides another way to connect with patients by reducing anxiety, improving comprehension, and helping Veterans make meaningful connections between disease, treatment, and recovery.
She’s a staunch believer in visual learning, sharing, “While the content is unrivaled in its beauty and accuracy, it’s simply a better way to learn for some individuals. The quickest way to both allay fears and increase compliance is Nucleus animation.”
A Better Way to Learn
The value of visual education extends beyond any one specialty.
As Lee Newball, Veterans Health Education Coordinator at the Orlando VA Medical Center, explains,
“The high-end 3D graphics make it visually appealing for all patients. It’s great for explaining a condition or physiological process. And, when compared to other platforms the pricing is just right…”
That observation captures what clinicians throughout VISN 8 have discovered: when patients truly understand their condition, they become more engaged in their care.
Visual Learning in Action
Whether it’s helping a woman understand fertility treatment options, explaining heart valve disease before surgery, or reducing anxiety before a diagnostic procedure, the Nucleus Medical Art Library has become a practical extension of patient education throughout VISN 8.
For physicians, nurses, and Veterans Health Education Coordinators alike, NMAL isn’t simply a content library—it’s a communication tool that transforms complex medicine into clear understanding.
And for the Veterans they serve, that understanding can make all the difference.
If you’d like to learn more about The Nucleus Medical Art Library for your hospital, clinic or private practice, click here to contact Nucleus.
And, if you’d like to test drive the NMAL to see for yourself, click here to sign up for a 30-day free trial!