Application of Virtual Reality (VR) technology for medical practitioners in Type and Screen (T&S) training

Abstract

Nowadays, patients' safety is the top priority for medical services around the world. However, it is believed that many of the adverse events in hospitals are preventable. Type and screen (T&S) procedures require intense practical training by each medical practitioner in each hospital. This study applied an interactive Virtual Reality (VR) technology to supplement the traditional approach to facilitate procedural training. The VR system made use of the Unity3D for application development. To investigate the reliability and validity of the conceptual medical training model, a survey was conducted to measure the content, motivation and enhanced readiness of practitioners. The partial least squares (PLS) modelling was carried out to investigate the correlation between each pair of measured variables. The study results indicated that the learning model has good reliability for each measurement factor and validates the survey study. The PLS modelling also indicated a significant correlation between each pair of measured variables. The project developed a VR training program for training in T&S procedures. The study provides important implications on the development of a practical VR training program for medical practitioners, as well as valuable insights for the development of similar VR training programs in the future.