Augmented Reality-aided Rescue Ultrasound Curriculum for Perioperative Crisis Management

To develop anesthesiology residents' proficiency in ultrasound for managing hemodynamically unstable patients using an augmented reality-aided multimodal competency-based curriculum (rescue ultrasound [RUS] curriculum).

This prospective study used a quasi-experimental design, involving a nonrandomized, pre-post intervention assessment of the novel competency-based RUS curriculum.

This study was conducted at a university hospital.

This single-center prospective study involved 10 attending anesthesiologists for baseline ultrasound data, 8 residents completing traditional training, and 15 residents completing the novel RUS curriculum.

This study enrolled third-year categorical anesthesia (CA-3) residents to evaluate the impact of a novel RUS curriculum. Competency benchmarks were defined using objective performance metrics derived from motion metrics data, with expert results as a reference. The study utilized task trainers and augmented reality (HoloLens) to teach RUS skills, and clinical transferability of the curriculum's impact was evaluated through a standardized scenario with a simulated hemodynamically unstable patient. The time taken to request ultrasound was compared between the RUS-trained residents and the non-RUS-trained residents using the Mann-Whitney U test.

Curriculum-trained residents averaged 72.3 seconds (standard deviation = 23.2) for ultrasound calls, compared with 294.9 seconds (standard deviation = 110.6) for nontrained residents. The motion metrics-derived data (path length, acceleration, and time) of curriculum-trained residents were comparable with those of experts.

An augmented reality-aided multimodal RUS curriculum was developed as a training modality. After completion of training, residents integrated ultrasound into clinical practice at an earlier stage of hemodynamic instability and developed RUS skills that were comparable with experts' performance.