Closing the Trauma and Critical Care Gap: A Paradigm Shift through Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality

A nationwide surgeon shortage, particularly with general surgeons and trauma surgeons, continues to plague the civilian and military systems readiness. To fill this shortcoming, we provide a narrative review describing current and potential uses of augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) for synthetic training environments which could significantly improve the Army's wartime medical readiness through improved skills of surgeons and non-surgeon providers. Multiple studies demonstrate the potential benefits of AR/VR in cost, time, and critical medical skills for enhanced care delivery. While encouraging, the novelty and relative youth of AR/VR platforms requires further prospective validation as the data for its use as a training adjunct is limited. Nevertheless, state of the art simulated training platforms like AR/VR which mimic surgical trauma cases and review critical surgical skills could help enable a transformation of non-surgeon providers to quickly augment current surgeon personnel shortages.