Researchers examine psychological and physiological effects of AR medical simulation training

The UCI School of Medicine, in partnership with Chenega Healthcare Services, LLC and MedCognition, was awarded a $1.2 million contract through the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium to examine the psychological effects of augmented reality (AR) medical simulation training.

Led by Drs. Shannon Toohey, Warren Wiechmann, and Megan Osborn from the UCI Department of Emergency Medicine, and Sarah Pressman, PhD, a professor of psychological science from the UCI School of Social Ecology, researchers aim to identify psychological and physiological effects of AR prototypes currently under development or currently used for medical simulation training.

We will be using a MedCognition PerSim augmented reality medical simulation trainer to teach medical students about death and dying. We will evaluate the psychological and physiological effects of the augmented reality training on the students by measuring salivary cortisol levels, electrodermal activity and evaluating their affective state."

Dr. Shannon Toohey, UCI Department of Emergency Medicine

Augmented reality involves the use of a computer-based simulation that adds digital elements to a live view, rather than providing a complete immersion experience that is found with virtual reality.

The two year study, titled, Assessment of the Psychological and Physiological Effects of Augmented Reality (APPEAR), got underway in December, and will focus on whether pre-existing psychological traits or past stress experiences influence the AR medical training experience and moderate the emotional responses to the simulation. Researchers will also evaluate whether the more realistic AR simulation will more successfully illicit realistic emergency situation-related emotional stress as compared to a standard medical simulator, in a medical student population.

The study is being done in coordination with the Medical Technology Enterprise Consortium and Chenega Corporation and is critical for assessing the limitations of AR that could impact learning effectiveness in military medical simulation training.

"Assessing the physiological and psychological effects of AR prototypes for military medical simulations is imperative to the technological development and refinement needed to deliver effective solutions to the combat soldiers. The outcomes of this work will be used to ensure that AR technology is safely and optimally utilized to enhance learning capabilities in medical simulation," said Pressman.