Latest Clinical Simulation News From Around the World | January 2022
Helping healthcare simulation educators, administrators, and learners to stay up-to-date on industry topics, HealthySimulation.com finds and shares relevant news and information from around the world. This news includes medical simulation innovations, products, vendors, research, etc. Together, these industry updates help paint pictures of where the healthcare simulation industry is presently, and where the industry is headed as the scope of clinical simulation practice expands across the field. Below are some of the world’s latest clinical simulation updates as of January 2022, including information on new partnerships, clinical simulation training solutions, VR simulation technologies, clinical simulation research, and more.
Cambridge and GigXR Partner to Transform Clinical Simulation Training
The University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Trust has announced that the institution has partnered with GigXR to create interactive holographic healthcare simulation training. Using mixed reality learners will be able to interact with holographic patients to practice high-level, real-time decision making and intervention choice, according to the university. Further, GigXR will offer the technology through their immersive learning platform, where the partnership and new holographic simulations can be accessed and deployed.
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“Cambridge has forged an industry-leading path in the integration of mixed reality, medicine, and the learning sciences. We are honored to be working with this world-class university, hospital trust, and research team,” said David King Lassman, CEO of GigXR. “Capitalizing on a tradition of innovation that has already included landmark work on DNA and the discovery of monoclonal antibodies, the University of Cambridge continues to create programs and tools for tomorrow’s healthcare leaders.”
UNMC Training Model Developed to Aid Accurate COVID Testing
The University of Nebraska Medical Center’s iEXCEL team has created an advanced model to help improve the skills of those performing the swabs. Five Oral Nasal Pharyngeal Anatomy Clinical Education trainers– called ONPACE – are now available at the Davis Global Center.
“When we were faced with this pandemic, we realized that millions of frontline workers were having to learn a procedure that they had never done before or were not as familiar with,” said Christie Barnes, MD, assistant professor and rhinologist in the UNMC Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. “The key to a proper nasopharyngeal swab involves the direction and depth of the swab being inserted and the ONPACE trainer helps to solidify those key aspects.
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Trauma Resuscitation in Kids (TRIK) Course
Trauma Resuscitation in Kids (TRIK) is a two-day simulation-based course designed for healthcare providers who manage pediatric trauma patients. The course includes a mixture of simulation scenarios, group lectures, and technical skills sessions for practicing procedures. The format provides healthcare providers hands-on experience in a safe and experiential learning environment. The event will take place from Thursday, September 8, 2022, 7:00 AM to Friday, September 9, 2022, at 5 PM at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Simulation Center in Columbus, Ohio.
Magic Leap Rolls Out New AR Headset
Magic Leap, Inc., announced the participation of a number of key healthcare technology companies in the Early Access Program for Magic Leap 2, the company’s second-generation enterprise-focused augmented reality (AR) platform. Early access to Magic Leap 2 devices will provide these healthcare technology companies the opportunity to finalize the development of their Magic Leap 2 platform solutions, ahead of general commercial availability, which is scheduled for mid-2022. Selected partners include:
- SentiAR
- SyncThink
- Heru
- Brainlab
A DEI Call to Action: Racial Equity in Simulation Leadership Beginning the Conversation
Recent social unrest over systemic racial injustice has put a national focus on promoting racial equality. While there have been Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) actions taken to implement needed systemic transformation in simulation leadership, more work is needed. In healthcare simulation, there is a lack of racial diversity on the executive boards of our leading organizations. Although we have been fortunate to have great mentorship, we would be remiss not to mention the barriers that we and other people of color have encountered. This includes lack of representation, lack of mentorship, rejected attempts to present without constructive feedback, and lack of inclusion on committees.
UT Southwestern Medical Center Fifth Annual Simulation Forum
The UT Southwestern Simulation Center Quality Improvement and Research Forum will be held May 2022. This forum is intended to bring individuals together from a broad array of backgrounds, all with a common interest in health care simulation quality improvement and research. Students, residents, nurses, fellows, faculty members, health care professionals, scientists, engineers, and other interested individuals are invited to submit abstracts and emerging ideas. Submissions will be accepted until January 15, 2022.
Developing a Framework for the Integration of Skills and Simulation: The 5-Stage Approach
In recent years, there have been many publications providing guidance on healthcare simulation-based education and frameworks for the development of faculty and delivery of clinical simulation. However, there is not a framework for the integration and delivery of skills and simulation within a pre-registration curriculum. The aim of the study was to create a framework that integrates clinical skills and simulation increasing in complexity that can be used for any pre-registration healthcare curriculum. Ability to effectively implement and embed within an existing or new curriculum.
Sidelined during COVID-19: a narrative inquiry into how simulationists experienced the pandemic
In the healthcare simulation community, colleagues who are no longer clinically practicing were often proximal to the COVID-19 response, not working in the frontlines of patient care. At the same time, their work as simulationists changed dramatically or was halted. This research explored the experiences of those simulationists who have clinical backgrounds but did not provide direct patient care during the initial pandemic response. The aim of this study was to allow those simulationists to share and have their stories heard.
Fundamental changes in critical systems within hospitals present safety risks. Some threats can be identified prospectively, others are only uncovered when the system goes live. Simulation and Healthcare Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (HFMEA) can be used together to prospectively test a system without endangering patients. The research team combined iterative simulations and HFMEA methodologies to conduct simulation-based clinical systems testing (SbCST) to detect and mitigate latent safety threats (LSTs) prior to opening a hospital helipad.
Ultraleap, a provider of extended reality (XR) technologies such as hand tracking and mid-air haptics, has today announced that it has completed a GBP £60 million (USD $82 million) Series D round of investment. Ultraleap stated that the funding will enable the company to further develop and commercialize its technologies for existing and next-generation computing platforms. New investors including Tencent, British Patient Capital through its Future Fund: Breakthrough program, and CMB International, were joined by existing shareholders Mayfair Equity Partners and IP Group plc, who also invested in the round.
“The metaverse concept is not new to Ultraleap. It has always been our mission to remove boundaries between the physical and digital worlds. The pandemic has accelerated the rise of the term as more people now understand the power of enhancing the physical world with digital elements,” said Tom Carter, Ultraleap CEO.
AR, VR Poised to Send Medtech into the Next Dimension
According to Fierce Biotech, 2021 was the year that immersive technologies finally found their footing in medtech. Thus, it stands to reason that 2022, in turn, will be the year that patients, providers and tech developers finally begin reaping the benefits of AR and VR. A recent market research report estimated that between 2021 and 2026, the market for VR in healthcare will grow nearly 35% annually, swelling to more than $40 billion by the end of that time. That’s a far cry from the comparatively meager $2.7 billion space that VR carved out in medicine in 2020.
MSU Nursing Students Learning to Care for Veterans Through Simulation
Education through simulation, Montana State University’s Mark and Robyn Jones College of Nursing continues its work to better serve veteran patients that nursing students will soon care for. Associate Professor Dr. Angela Jukkala and her fellow collaborators created a space for students to ‘roleplay’ healthcare, make mistakes, learn and grow. The students taking part were able to apply what they’ve been taught, and learn how to navigate difficult topics, such as suicide.
Top 8 VR Applications in the Healthcare Industry
Many healthcare organizations are already utilizing virtual reality (VR) and other new technologies like augmented reality (AR). Virtual reality is used by technologists in a number of areas, including patient care, medical training, and hospital administration. With a CAGR of 16.21% throughout the projected period, the VR in the healthcare industry is expected to reach US$8.03B by 2027, up from the US $2.06B in 2019. The rise is attributed to an increase in the need for novel diagnostic tools, as well as a rise in neurological illnesses and disease awareness. This article shares the top 10 uses of VR in the healthcare industry, which include Embodied Labs, XRHealth, Osso VR, and more.
Virtual Reality the Next Realm of Healthcare Technology
The healthcare industry is setting its sights on virtual reality as the next frontier for technological advancement. California Health Sciences University in Clovis operates its simulation center with immersive technology. One of the latest pieces of technology, the Butterfly Probe, is a handheld, bedside ultrasound system expected to allow for an increase in-home care or care in rural areas with a lack of healthcare access.
The hand-held device will hook up to an app on a smartphone, allowing doctors to monitor a fetus anywhere — on the spot in the emergency room or for at-home care purposes. This is much more efficient than waiting for an ultrasound technician to come and bring all the equipment in a room, said Simulation Center Director Leslie Catron.
Virtual Reality to Help Train Cardiologists
A world-first virtual reality (VR) training program, developed by a Macquarie University cardiologist and health technology company Vantari VR, will soon be helping doctors learn to carry out a complex diagnostic procedure for heart patients. The training program uses VR goggles and a pair of electronic gauntlets that act as the doctor’s hands in the virtual world. It takes them through different stages of difficulty, beginning with a demonstration of how to perform a right heart catheter and what they can expect to see in a normal case.
Adult Exploration Learning through Clinical High-Fidelity Simulation
In the Nursing Degree program at the University of Girona in Spain, students acquire the professional competencies, attitudes, and skills necessary to practice healthcare, attending the illness of any person, regardless of age, gender, or social status. In the nursing specialty of the University of Girona, we integrate clinical simulation within a first-year subject called Nursing Care for the Healthy Person throughout the Life Cycle. Students learn to perform physical examinations on adults through simulations. This experience is innovative in several respects:
- It includes simulation within a theoretical subject;
- It incorporates this methodology in the early stages of training (first year of degree), and
- It integrates high-fidelity simulation in a clinical nursing environment with a person who acts as a standardized patient.
Virtual Reality Comes to the Veterans Health Administration and its Patients
For the Veterans Health Administration, virtual reality isn’t about fun and games. The patients have seen real war in real life. Instead, the VHA’s Innovation Ecosystem has teamed up with a vendor called Wellovate to develop immersion therapies for patients. They’ve been testing the system since August and Federal Drive with Tom Temin spoke to Caitlin Rawlins, VHA innovation specialist, and Allison Amrhein, the director of Operations for the VHA Innovators Network, as transcribed in this article.
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Lance Baily, BA, EMT-B, is the Founder & CEO of HealthySimulation.com, which he started while serving as the Director of the Nevada System of Higher Education’s Clinical Simulation Center of Las Vegas back in 2010. Lance is also the Founder and acting Advisor to the Board of SimGHOSTS.org, the world’s only non-profit organization dedicated to supporting professionals operating healthcare simulation technologies. His co-edited Book: “Comprehensive Healthcare Simulation: Operations, Technology, and Innovative Practice” is cited as a key source for professional certification in the industry. Lance’s background also includes serving as a Simulation Technology Specialist for the LA Community College District, EMS fire fighting, Hollywood movie production, rescue diving, and global travel. He and his wife Abigail Baily, PhD live in Las Vegas, Nevada with their two amazing daughters.
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