Exploring Triage Performance in Mass Casualty Incidents: Comparing Virtual vs Real Patient Actors in Augmented...

Area of Science:

• Emergency Medicine
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Cognitive Psychology

Background:

• Mass casualty incident (MCI) triage is critical for resource allocation during emergencies.
• Existing research indicates demographic biases in emergency room triage, affecting healthcare outcomes for women and people of color.
• Augmented reality (AR) offers potential for improved MCI response and training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if demographic disparities in triage efficacy can be detected using AR simulations.
• To compare triage performance in a fully virtual AR simulation versus a mixed-reality simulation with patient actors.
• To explore the cognitive factors influencing triage decisions in different simulation environments.

Main Methods:

• An exploratory within-subjects study with 13 first responders using Hololens2 AR devices.
• Two conditions: a fully virtual AR simulation (1V) with virtual patients and a mixed-reality simulation (2R) with patient actors.
• Statistical analysis using ANOVAs and linear models to evaluate triage efficacy and demographic impacts.

Main Results:

• Preliminary analysis suggests slight demographic impacts on triage efficacy in the mixed-reality (2R) simulation.
• More pronounced impacts of patient demographics on triage efficacy were observed in the fully virtual AR (1V) simulation.
• The study identified potential biases influenced by patient characteristics in both simulated environments.

Conclusions:

• AR technology can potentially reveal and quantify demographic biases in MCI triage training.
• Virtual MCI simulations may exacerbate existing triage disparities compared to real-world or mixed-reality scenarios.
• Further research is needed to understand and mitigate cognitive factors contributing to triage bias in AR environments.