Virtual Reality: The Future of Invasive Procedure Training?

Area of Science:

• Medical Simulation
• Surgical Training Technology

Background:

• Invasive procedures carry risks and require high trainee proficiency under pressure.
• Mastery involves technical skill, adaptability to patient variability, and environmental stressors.
• Virtual reality (VR) simulation is an immersive technology with potential to improve medical training and patient safety.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a historical review, current status, and potential applications of VR simulation for invasive procedures.
• To explore a VR training module for central venous access as a prototype.
• To describe the advantages and limitations of VR simulation in invasive procedure training.

Main Methods:

• Review of historical and current applications of VR in medical training.
• Exploration of a specific VR training module for central venous access.
• Analysis of VR technology's potential, advantages, and limitations for invasive procedures.

Main Results:

• VR simulation training can project realistic environments with haptic, audio, and visual stimuli.
• Extensive use of VR for task training exists in healthcare and other fields.
• A prototype VR module for central venous access illustrates the technology's application.

Conclusions:

• VR simulation training holds significant potential for enhancing clinical proficiency in invasive procedures.
• The technology can help trainees adapt to complex scenarios and improve patient safety.
• Further development and application of VR simulation are expected for invasive procedure training.