Using augmented reality (AR) to train medical staff in high-skill, high-expertise procedures can sharply improve efficiency, according to a new study.
Samsung Medical Center said on the 24th that a research team led by Professor Son Myung-hee of the Emergency Medicine Department, together with the emergency nursing unit of its nursing division, analyzed the effectiveness of AR-based training on the Level-1 rapid infuser for emergency room nurses. The team found that the time needed to prepare equipment for transfusion in critical emergencies was cut by about 62%.
The Level-1 rapid infuser is a device that rapidly delivers fluids or blood to patients whose blood volume is depleted by hypovolemic shock, severe trauma or massive bleeding. Fast and accurate operation is essential in emergencies where a patient's life is at stake, but the device is used infrequently in practice, making it difficult to maintain sufficient proficiency.
The team recruited 42 nurses with no prior experience using the device and split them into two groups of 21. One group received AR training, operating the actual equipment while wearing an AR headset. Although virtual, the process heightened realism, comparable to a senior nurse teaching one-on-one how to apply the device to a patient in an emergency. The other group studied on their own using written manuals, as had been done previously. The median learning time was 18.02 minutes for the AR group, more than twice as long as the 8.98 minutes for the conventional group.
But once the training was complete and the nurses were asked to use the actual device, the results reversed. The time spent preparing the equipment fell to 3.67 minutes in the AR group from 9.85 minutes in the conventional group, a reduction to about one-third. Total performance time — including equipment setup, fluid delivery and transfusion — was 5.83 minutes for the AR group and 13.63 minutes for the conventional group, a wide gap. Throughout the entire operation of the device, the AR group never asked senior nurses or others for help, while the conventional group requested assistance twice, indicating that further training is needed in terms of accuracy and independence. The hands-on process of seeing and touching the device through AR translated into a difference in actual performance.
"If augmented reality is used to repeatedly practice important medical devices that are not used often, along with a range of clinical situations, it can strengthen the capabilities of medical staff and help them prepare more systematically for unexpected situations," Professor Son said. "As next-generation devices that are lighter, more comfortable and higher-performing emerge, they will be used far more naturally in medical training and in clinical settings."
The study was supported by the Korea Health Industry Development Institute's health and medical technology R&D program, and the detailed results were published in JMIR Medical Education.
