Using Virtual Simulations to Assess Situational Awareness and Communication in Medical and Nursing Education: A Technical Feasibility Study

摘要

Communication and situational awareness, among other "human factors," are critical skills needed within high-reliability organizations (HROs). HROs are challenged to develop an effective methodology for the systematic assessment of these skills. Virtual reality (VR) simulation technology offers a promising approach to meet this challenge. By utilizing a verbal coding procedure in tandem with eye-tracking metrics, we conducted a technical feasibility study to assess the impact of an interprofessional training (TeamSTEPPS (R)) on communication accuracy and observing responses among medical and nursing students in a virtual simulation. The results suggest that communication accuracy significantly improved as a result of TeamSTEPPS (R) training. These findings and changes in situational awareness among individuals are discussed.