Development and evaluation of a virtual reality patient simulation (VRPS)

In disasters and mass casualty incidents (MCIs) paramedics initially determine the severeness of all patients' injuries during the so-called triage. In order to enhance disaster preparedness continuous training of all paramedics is indispensable. Due to the fact that large disaster control exercises are laborious and expensive, additional training on a small scale makes sense. Therefore we designed and developed a virtual reality patient simulation (VRPS) to train paramedics in this disaster triage. The presented approach includes gesture based interactions with the virtual patients in order to simulate the triage process as realistically as possible. The evaluated approach focuses on the training of paramedics in disaster triage according to the mSTaRT (modified Simple Triage and Rapid Treatment) triage algorithm on a multi-touch table top device. At the Munich fire department fully-qualified paramedics performed 160 triage processes with the triage simulation. The accuracy of the triage processes was compared to previous disaster control exercises with real mimes. The presented results of this explorative evaluation will be the basis for future, larger evaluations.