Virtual Reality Technology and Remote Digital Application for Tele-Simulation and Global Medical Education: An Innovative Hybrid System for Clinical Training

Abstract

Objective. Although simulation-based medical education is fundamental for acquisition and maintenance of knowledge and skills; simulators are often located in urban centers and they are not easily accessible due to cost, time, and geographic constraints. Our objective is to develop a proof-of-concept innovative prototype using virtual reality (VR) technology for clinical tele simulation training to facilitate access and global academic collaborations. Methodology. Our project is a VR-based system using Oculus Quest as a standalone, portable, and wireless head-mounted device, along with a digital platform to deliver immersive clinical simulation sessions. Instructor’s control panel (ICP) application is designed to create VR-clinical scenarios remotely, live-stream sessions, communicate with learners and control VR-clinical training in real-time. Results. The Virtual Clinical Simulation (VCS) system offers realistic clinical training in virtual space that mimics hospital environments. Those VR clinical scenarios are customizable to suit the need, with high-fidelity lifelike characters designed to deliver interactive and immersive learning experience. The real-time connection and live-stream between ICP and VR-training system enables interactive academic learning and facilitates access to tele simulation training. Conclusions. VCS system provides innovative solutions to major challenges associated with conventional simulation training such as access, cost, personnel, and curriculum. VCS facilitates the delivery of academic and interactive clinical training that is similar to real-life settings. Tele-clinical simulation systems like VCS facilitate necessary academic-community partnerships, as well as global education network between resource-rich and low-income countries.

Use of Extended Reality in Medical Education: An Integrative Review

“…Telesimulation is a process by which telecommunication and immersive technologies such as HMDs are used to provide education, training, and/or assessment to learners at remote locations [ 4 , 57 ]. Careera et al (2019) suggests that the ability to transmit the user’s point-of-view (POV) video using HMDs such as Smart Glasses offers great potential as a tool for procedural skills acquisition, remote supervision, and assessment [ 53 ].…”

“…Educational technologies offer the potential for facilitating safer, more suitable, and cost-effective learning experiences through which authentic education and training tasks can be simulated [ 2 ]. Simulation, in particular, has become an important cornerstone in medical education and, while an invaluable tool, manikin-based simulators are often located in urban centers and not easily accessible due to geographic barriers, equipment costs, time constraints, human resources, and space limitations [ 4 ]. Manikin-based simulations are also often limited to infrequent opportunities that require preparation, personnel, and scheduling, making it difficult to run at the time when the knowledge and skills are needed [ 5 ].…”

Telesimulation about home visits and child care: facilitators, barriers and perception of Nursing students

“…Telesimulation is a field in evolution, with emphasis for clinical evaluators to promote competencies in undergraduate students 2 , 6 . Telesimulation seeks to imitate, from a distance, the particularities of a given context, to reach an understanding of the real conditions, using an environment set up to recreate a reality, with the purpose of practicing, learning, testing and evaluating 7 .…”

Telessimulação sobre visita domiciliar e cuidado infantil: facilidades, barreiras e percepções de estudantes de enfermagem

“…A telessimulação é um campo em evolução, sendo enfatizada para educadores clínicos para promover competências de estudantes de graduação (2,6) . A telessimulação busca imitar, à distância, as particularidades de um determinado contexto, para alcançar entendimento das condições reais, recorrendo a um ambiente montado para recriar uma realidade, com o propósito de praticar, aprender, testar e avaliar (7) .…”