‘It gives you more confidence’: U of M virtual, augmented reality systems train health practitioners

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This article was published 16/03/2024 (603 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lami Olaide said it’s nice to know future nursing students won’t have to worry about hurting patients or making mistakes when they push an IV into the arm of a patient for the first time.

Olaide, a first year nursing student at the University of Manitoba’s College of Nursing, said she is looking forward to the day when the institution’s virtual reality and augmented reality systems can be fully used by students as part of their studies to become nurses, but also doctors, surgeons and dentists.

“It was better with less pressure,” Olaide said on Friday, shortly after trying out the VR system for nursing. “You got to practice without the thought at the back of your head that you’re hurting a real patient.

“It gives you more confidence.”

Dr. Peter Nickerson, dean and vice-provost (health sciences), at the University of Manitoba’s Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, said he’s excited about the possibilities of what they’re calling the “RadyVerse” for training the next generation of medical workers.

“(It) will revolutionize the education of health practitioners through the use of virtual reality, artificial intelligence and augmented reality,” Nickerson said.

“Students can practice procedures and interventions in immersive, controlled simulations without risk to real patients. VR can also facilitate team-based training by allowing multiple students to collaborate in simulated medical scenarios from different locations.”

Nickerson said the use of VR also allows the university to get students together from different medical-related faculties so they can train in the various scenarios they will face in real life.

“This encourages teamwork, communication skills and inter-professional collaboration, which are essential in team-based health-care teams and a key priority of the Rady Faculty of Health Sciences in order to break down silos between the health professions,” he said.

Nicole Harder, an associate professor in the College of Nursing, said their students have been using the virtual systems since fall 2022.

“It’s a great addition to our program,” Harder said.

“It’s just like being in the real environment. We can provide more experience to more students and it is a place to do your mistakes and get more confidence.”

Lawrence Gilman, an associate professor in medical/surgical education and simulation, said although medical students can’t use the system yet to do surgery — that would require specialized gloves connecting to the system — the VR system still has many benefits.

“We are using computer equipment with joysticks — that doesn’t work with surgeries yet,” Gilman said.

“The bulk of what we are doing is crisis simulation. Someone comes in with a trauma so it is more for the communication ability and not the physical skills.”

But Gilman said medical students are still able to use the VR system to start IVs and to insert breathing tubes into patients.

“It’s pretty realistic,” he said. “You can grab things and move them around. It feels like you are doing it in real life.

“But our biggest goal is to start training together. This makes it easier because the nursing student could be at the Fort Garry campus and we could be (at the campus at the Health Sciences Centre). You can bring people together.

“I think this will only get bigger.”

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca