Endotracheal Intubation is a lifesaving procedure in which a tube is passed through the mouth into the trachea (windpipe) to maintain an open airway and facilitate artificial respiration. It is a complex psychomotor skill, which requires significant training and experience to prevent complications. The current methods of training, including manikins and cadaver, have limitations in terms of their availability for early medical professionals to learn and practice. These training options also have limitations in terms of presenting high risk/difficult intubation cases for experts to mentally plan their approach in high-risk scenarios prior to the procedure. In this demo, we present AirwayVR: virtual reality-based simulation trainer for intubation training. Our goal is to utilize virtual reality platform for intubation skills training for two different target audience (medical professionals) with two different objectives. The first one is to use AirwayVR as an introductory platform to learn and practice intubation in virtual reality for novice learners (Medical students and residents). The second objective is to utilize this technology as a Just-in-time training platform for experts to mentally prepare for a complex case prior to the procedure.

Objective: In recent years, the training of novice medical professionals with simulated environments such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) has increased dramatically. However, the usability of these technologies is limited due to the complexity involved in creating the clinical content. To be comparable to a clinical environment, the simulation platform should include real-world learning parameters such as patient physiology, emotions, and clinical team behaviors. Incorporating such nondeterministic parameters has historically required faculty to possess advanced programming skills. Lack of effective software for instructors to easily develop VR curriculum content is a hurdle in developing VR based curriculum. Method: We address this challenge through a software platform that simplifies the creation of Interactive Mixed Reality (IMR) scenarios. Three educational components we were able to embed into an IMR scenario includes 1) integrated 360-degree video recording of a clinical encounter to provide a first-person perspective, 2) rich annotated knowledge content, and 3) assessment questionnaire. We developed a sepsis prevention education scenario using the IMR software to demonstrate the potential of enhancing simulated medical training by accelerating clinical exposure for novice students. Result: An IRB approved study was conducted with a group of 28 novice students to evaluate the efficacy of the IMR technology. The participants provided feedback by answering demographics, NASA-TLX and system usability scale questionnaires. Significance: Our software is a step towards improving VR based education content development process. Conclusion: The studies conducted here provide preliminary evidence that the IMR software is a usable technology based on the NASA-TLX and system usability studies conducted. Future work will compare our new educational strategy for medical training with live simulation scenarios inside a hospital room and a simple video-based curriculum.

Endotracheal intubation is a procedure in which a tube is passed through the mouth into the trachea (windpipe) to maintain an airway and provide artificial respiration. This lifesaving procedure, utilized in many clinical situations, requires complex psychomotor skills. Healthcare providers need significant training and experience to acquire skills necessary for a quick and atraumatic endotracheal intubation to prevent complications. However, medical professionals have limited training platforms and opportunities to be trained on this procedure. In this poster, we present a virtual reality-based simulation trainer for intubation training. This VR based intubation trainer provides an environment for healthcare professionals to assimilate these complex psychomotor skills while also allowing a safe place to practice swift and atraumatic intubation. User survey results are presented demonstrating that VR is a promising platform to train medical professionals effectively for this procedure.