Viewpoint: Virtual and Augmented Reality in Basic and Advanced Life Support Training

Area of Science:

• Medical Simulation
• Health Professions Education
• Immersive Technologies

Background:

• Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are increasingly used for life support training, offering immersive, safe learning environments.
• These technologies are applied in emergency care training for healthcare providers, medical students, and nonprofessionals.
• A comprehensive review of existing AR and VR tools is essential for medical simulation professionals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize and organize findings on AR and VR for emergency care training.
• To analyze various AR/VR toolkits based on application goals, simulated procedures, and skills.
• To identify limitations and future research directions in AR/VR medical simulation.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of studies on AR and VR for life support and emergency care training.
• Categorization of tools into serious games, virtual reality (VR) tools, and augmented reality (AR) applications.
• Analysis of toolkits based on training/assessment goals, simulated procedures, and skills.

Main Results:

• AR and VR tools encompass serious games, semi-immersive to immersive VR, and AR applications.
• Studies analyzed cover training, assessment, simulated procedures, and skills.
• Limited research exists on multiplayer AR/VR, haptic feedback, and manual skill evaluation.

Conclusions:

• AR and VR show promise for medical simulation and emergency care training.
• Further investigation is required for multiplayer functionalities, haptic feedback, and objective manual skill assessment.
• Comparative studies are needed to validate AR/VR effectiveness against traditional training methods.