Behavioral Assessment in Virtual Reality: An Evaluation of Multi-User Simulations in Healthcare Education
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Authors
Anbro, Steven James
Issue Date
2020
Type
Dissertation
Language
Keywords
communication , healthcare education , medical education , simulation , situational awareness , virtual reality
Alternative Title
Abstract
Human error in medicine – medical error – has been identified as the third leading cause of death within the United States. Analyses of deaths attributable to medical error conclude that, overwhelmingly, faulty communication plays a central role in medical error. Faulty communication can occur at any time. Patient handoffs, the transfer of patient care from one medical professional to another, are frequently occurring events in healthcare settings where communication accuracy is vital. Using lessons learned from other highly technical, risk-inherent industries such as aviation, the medical industry has put together a training package called TeamSTEPPS® to address this systemic problem. This initiative began in clinical settings and has worked its way into healthcare education. Within such initiatives, a fundamental challenge is the objective measurement of certain fundamental skills identified by the training. It is increasingly important to develop valid measurement and assessment protocols for the medical industry. Behavior science offers a robust history of objective behavioral measurement and assessment. Virtual reality (VR) offers a measurement-rich platform for assessing behavior in simulations, but its replacement of in-person (direct) simulations is lacking validation research. This study evaluated the validity of using VR simulations in healthcare education to measure and assess critical skills identified by TeamSTEPPS® for medical professionals during simulated patient handoffs. Furthermore, this study evaluated changes in simulation performance as a function of TeamSTEPPS® training versus a control training.