Learning procedural skills with a virtual reality simulator: An acceptability study

BACKGROUND

Virtual Reality (VR) simulation has recently been developed and has improved surgical training. Most VR simulators focus on learning technical skills and few on procedural skills. Studies that evaluated VR simulators focused on feasibility, reliability or easiness of use, but few of them used a specific acceptability measurement tool.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of the study was to assess acceptability and usability of a new VR simulator for procedural skill training among scrub nurses, based on the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model.

PARTICIPANTS

The simulator training system was tested with a convenience sample of 16 non-expert users and 13 expert scrub nurses from the neurosurgery department of a French University Hospital.

METHODS

The scenario was designed to train scrub nurses in the preparation of the instrumentation table for a craniotomy in the operating room (OR).

RESULTS

Acceptability of the VR simulator was demonstrated with no significant difference between expert scrub nurses and non-experts. There was no effect of age, gender or expertise. Workload, immersion and simulator sickness were also rated equally by all participants. Most participants stressed its pedagogical interest, fun and realism, but some of them also regretted its lack of visual comfort.

CONCLUSION

This VR simulator designed to teach surgical procedures can be widely used as a tool in initial or vocational training.

Nano-polymer-dispersed liquid crystal as phase modulator for a tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser at 1.55 mum

We demonstrate what we believe is the first nonmechanical tunable vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser operating in the C band. This was achieved as a result of the combination of an InGaAs quantum well structure with a 6lambda thickness tunable index nano-polymer-dispersed liquid-crystal material. Experimental results exhibited a potential tunable range close to 10 nm, in the preliminary version, and excellent single mode locking due to the side-mode suppression ratio (more than 20 dB) over the whole spectral range. Another decisive advantage, compared to mechanical solutions, was the tuning response time of a few tens of microseconds (>30 micros) to scan the full spectral range (10 nm), making this device appropriate for some access network functions, as well as being robust and low cost. The voltage values are the main limitation to wavelength range extension. We present a first version of the device optically pumped. The next version will be electrically pumped as required for the access network applications targeted here.