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Virtual
3D World for Emergency Medical Team Training
Project Overview
Training interdisciplinary trauma teams to work together effectively using
simulation technology has led to a reduction in medical errors in ER, OR
and delivery room settings. The SUMMIT development team of academic surgeons,
software developers, and medical educators designed and evaluated a web-based
virtual 3D world simulator for team training in the Emergency Medicine Crisis
Resource Management (EMCRM) curriculum.
Figure 1: Screen shot of 6 person trauma team
(in scrubs) around the injured patient.
The virtual Emergency Department world was developed
using Atmosphere software (Adobe Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA) and
Poser (Curious Labs, Santa Cruz, CA)
was used to create the avatars and patient ‘robots’. Six trauma
scenarios adapted from clinical scenarios designed for the high-fidelity Human
Patient Simulator (HPS) were incorporated in this 3D World. . Talker (Digital
Space, Australia) was used for live voice communication. Avatars, ‘clothed
in scrub garments’ were customized to portray the actual team members.
During a training session, geographically dispersed users working from
networked computers, take physician or nurse avatar roles in a virtual
emergency department to manage different patient ‘robots’ in varying clinical
scenarios. Users elicit avatar actions, such as gestures and body motions,
by selecting appropriate buttons from a menu (e.g. clearing airway). Vital
signs respond appropriately to avatar actions based on Java-scripted programming.
For example, the blood pressure of a hypovolemic patient increases upon rapid
infusion of intravenous fluid. Upon completion of each 10-15 minute scenario,
an instructor conducts a debriefing, using audio–video replay of
the scenario.
Figure 2: Dr. Phil Harter leading a debriefing session.
Project Status
This web-based learning
technology affords medical students and resident physicians the opportunity
to develop leadership, cooperation, and communication skills, and can be used
in training nurses and other ED personnel.
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