Remote Interactive Video Simulation
Figure: The controller’s dashboard (left) shows the user interface that the facilitator uses to choose content displayed to the student. The student’s view on a second monitor can be shared with the students remotely.
Interdisciplinary collaborators:
- Dr. Laura Gonzalez (SentinelU, GA)
- Dr. Mindi Anderson, Dr. Desiree Diaz, Heidi Penny (College of Nursing at University of Central Florida, Orlando FL)
Motivation:
Healthcare simulation is an essential component for training nurses and doctors before they apply their skills on real patients. Typically, patient simulation occurs in a simulation center using standardized patients, Mannequins, or virtual simulation (e.g., computer screen, head-mounted display). During a simulation session, students interact with a simulated patient, followed by a debrief from the healthcare instructor. Interactivity is an essential element needed for simulation. Access to simulation centers is harder with social distancing during a pandemic and in remote areas regardless of the pandemic. During this pandemic, healthcare educators rushed to use pre-existing videos or had to record their own videos that they shared with their students to watch as a makeshift “simulation”. The problem is that these videos are not interactive which does not satisfy the interactivity requirement for simulation. Today, many nursing and medical students are watching videos passively without the opportunity to provide input (e.g., make decisions, assessments, interventions, communication…etc). Our innovation allows healthcare educators to add interactivity to their existing content to create new healthcare scenarios and remotely share that content with their students.
Innovation Description:
We developed the Interactive Video Simulation (IVS) software which provides healthcare educators (e.g., nurses, doctors) the power to create their own simulation scenarios using their own content (e.g., videos, images, text) and run the simulation remotely with their students. The software is content-independent, but it gives access to the educators to customize the scenarios with their own content in an easy way. Our software can run on a mac or a PC computer with a 2nd monitor attached. The 1st monitor has a dashboard with the buttons that the software generates for the scenario. The simulation facilitator (this is typically an instructor) controls the scenario by pressing those buttons. The 2nd screen shows the multimedia content that is triggered by the facilitator based on what the students choose to do next. The 2nd screen can be shared with remote students using any video conference software (e.g., Zoom) to display the responses while hiding the answers to avoid accidentally priming the students. When the facilitator clicks on buttons (e.g., videos, images, sounds…etc), a log is created to record the student’s choices and times. That facilitator can also provide feedback based on what the students do next. We are working on creating an immersive standalone version for trainees that they can use on a flat screen or on with a head mounted display with or without a facilitator.
Impact:
We interviewed 20 healthcare providers and educators from different institutions to assess their priorities for simulation, especially during the pandemic and similar emergencies. We found that they value the safety of remote simulation, the ability to customize content, adding interactivity to the simulation, and an easy-to-use software. They also stressed the importance of having a debrief and an opportunity for students to practice and experience the simulation. Our IVS software addresses all the points that the healthcare providers raised during the interviews.
We ran multiple studies at University of Central Florida using the IVS technology and we found that adding interactivity promotes teamwork, perception of authenticity, and higher levels of thinking. Also, the IVS software had high technology acceptance rate among students. The results were published in a peer reviewed journal and conferences (INACSL, IMSH).
Videos:
Publications & Presentations:
2023
Technology Acceptance and Authenticity in Interactive Simulation: Experimental Study Journal Article
In: Journal of Medical Education, vol. 9, pp. e40040, 2023.
2022
22nd International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH) , 2022.
2021
Interactive Video Simulation for Remote Healthcare Learning Journal Article
In: Frontiers in Surgery: Healthcare Simulation and Online Learning, vol. 8, pp. 16, 2021.
Interactive Video Simulation: A Remote Solution Conference
International Nursing Association for Clinical Simulation and Learning (INACSL), 2021.