1. Proceedings
  2. I3M
  3. 2021
  4. IWISH
  5. 10.46354/i3m.2021.iwish.012

Use of Virtual Reality for Training on Procedures in an Intensive Care Unit during the COVID-19 Pandemic

  • a,b Ali Asgary , 
  • c Mohammad Ali Shafiee , 
  • a Abel Guimaraes , 
  • a Nazanin Nadri , 
  • d Philip Ma , 
  • e Christie M. Lee , 
  • c Mehdi Aarabi , 
  • a Mohammadali Tofighi , 
  • a,b Adriano O. Solis  , 
  • a,f Jianhong Wu 
  • a Advanced Disaster, Emergency and Rapid Response Simulation (ADERSIM), York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
  • b School of Administrative Studies, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
  • c Department of Medicine, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • d Critical Care / Respiratory Therapy, Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • e Critical Care Medicine, Sinai Health System, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
  • f Department of Mathematics and Statistics, York University, Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3, Canada
Cite as
Asgary A., Shafiee M.A., Guimaraes A., Nadri N., Ma P., Lee C.M., Aarabi M., Tofighi M., Solis A.O., Wu J. (2021). Use of Virtual Reality for Training on Procedures in an Intensive Care Unit during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Proceedings of the 10th International Workshop on Innovative Simulation for Healthcare (IWISH 2021), pp. 76-83. DOI: https://doi.org/10.46354/i3m.2021.iwish.012

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of awareness and preparedness on the part of medical personnel. Virtual reality (VR) may be viewed as a useful tool in enabling knowledge and ability of medical practitioners in protecting themselves during the pandemic. This research describes the details of a VR application developed to train healthcare personnel in an intensive care unit (ICU) environment on some of the critical procedures related to COVID-19 patients. We discuss design considerations of VR for healthcare training as well as a process of selecting, based on expert opinion, key ICU training modules. The process of creating a 3D model of the ICU is outlined, and the major components and the use of the VR application are discussed. We find that a practical VR training program should apply a suitable VR platform and simulation techniques, while placing emphasis on addressing emerging problems and needs of healthcare personnel during the pandemic.

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