VR NURSING TRAINING

Pushing Humanity Forward (PoC)

Our client had the idea to connect two things he is passionate about – healthcare and virtual reality – all at the service of humanity. He reached out to 4Experience, inviting us to cooperate with his team of nursing educators and simulation experts in order to create a VR nursing training.

Client

NDA

Sector

Medicine training

Nursing

Services

VR nursing training

PoC

Technology

HTC Vive Pro

Hi5 Haptic Glove

Visual results video

Business value

Wound dressing – a practical simulation

Real-life healthcare doesn’t happen in a classroom. Thus, VR nursing training is a perfect solution to make trainees learning as authentic as possible.

VR nursing training gives the personnel a safe, immersive learning environment so that when they do begin treating actual patients, they are truly prepared. It’s also possible to recreate situations that rarely occur in order to apply their knowledge gained through theory and keep their lifesaving skills sharp. Even if they’re only needed once in a while.

It’s easier to modify subtle variables of the training environment with VR when compared to traditional methods. The HTC Vive VR kit allowed nurse participants to explore a virtual clinic and interact with various elements, including the patient.

Virtual reality is being used to create simulations of nursing scenarios where the trainee has to carry out a series of tasks, for example, checking a patient’s vital signs. But it is also used to train how to react in an emergency, e.g. cardiac arrest.

Challenge

The cost of getting qualified

Medical care providers – such as nurses and doctors – have very limited time to act in order to save a patient’s life. A moment of hesitation can bring disastrous results, including minor or fatal injuries. That’s why it is extremely important for nurses to keep their practical knowledge and skills up to date.

Such experience comes from years of hard work, including learning from your own mistakes and performing the same activities hundreds – even thousands – times. Medical personnel is currently improving their skills by performing activities on trained simulated patient actors or (mute or not-responsive) robotic mannequins. Unluckily, both solutions are extremely pricey and time-consuming.

On the other hand, it is critical to their education that they are able to practice providing healthcare in an authentic, safe way. That’s why our client decided to challenged us with creating PoC of VR nursing training, using Hi5 Haptic Gloves.

Process and project scope

Scope

VR Nursing training is a training application aimed at preparing nurses for excelling at their job – specifically, dressing applications for open wounds (later there would be a division into cut wounds, with swelling, gunshot, etc.). What’s important, the application is to be used only for internal use of training employees of medical facilities.

Process

When using the VR nursing training, medical personnel go through the scenario and must make choices on what care to give the patient. The training consists in opening the package and then applying a special patch to the wound. For hygiene reasons, each of the training steps must be performed in a specific way.

Service

When using the VR nursing training, medical personnel go through the scenario and must make choices on what care to give the patient. The training consists in opening the package and then applying a special patch to the wound. For hygiene reasons, each of the training steps must be performed in a specific way.

Collaboration

VR nursing training has been prepared for the HTC Vive headset, connected with Hi5 Glove haptic gloves. Our tasks were to implement the mechanics of applying the patch as well as preparing the visuals. The client provided us with a set of materials, which were showing detailed steps of wound dressing – from picking the right dressing up to applying the patch to the wound.

Technology stack

The project was created in Unreal Engine.

The biggest challenge was the use of VR gloves, which despite advanced technology still do not provide the desired precision. We finished at the prototype stage.

Unity - the main tool used by 4Experience