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OR fire virtual training simulator: design and face validity

Surgical Endoscopy volume 31, pages 3527–3533 (2017)Cite this article

Abstract

Background

The Virtual Electrosurgical Skill Trainer is a tool for training surgeons the safe operation of electrosurgery tools in both open and minimally invasive surgery. This training includes a dedicated team-training module that focuses on operating room (OR) fire prevention and response. The module was developed to allow trainees, practicing surgeons, anesthesiologist, and nurses to interact with a virtual OR environment, which includes anesthesia apparatus, electrosurgical equipment, a virtual patient, and a fire extinguisher. Wearing a head-mounted display, participants must correctly identify the “fire triangle” elements and then successfully contain an OR fire. Within these virtual reality scenarios, trainees learn to react appropriately to the simulated emergency. A study targeted at establishing the face validity of the virtual OR fire simulator was undertaken at the 2015 Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons conference.

Methods

Forty-nine subjects with varying experience participated in this Institutional Review Board-approved study. The subjects were asked to complete the OR fire training/prevention sequence in the VEST simulator. Subjects were then asked to answer a subjective preference questionnaire consisting of sixteen questions, focused on the usefulness and fidelity of the simulator.

Results

On a 5-point scale, 12 of 13 questions were rated at a mean of 3 or greater (92%). Five questions were rated above 4 (38%), particularly those focusing on the simulator effectiveness and its usefulness in OR fire safety training. A total of 33 of the 49 participants (67%) chose the virtual OR fire trainer over the traditional training methods such as a textbook or an animal model.

Conclusions

Training for OR fire emergencies in fully immersive VR environments, such as the VEST trainer, may be the ideal training modality. The face validity of the OR fire training module of the VEST simulator was successfully established on many aspects of the simulation.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the FUSE VEST advisory committee, particularly Dr. Malcolm Munro, for the valuable feedback used to guide this research. The authors also grateful acknowledge the assistance of Sean Radigan (CeMSIM, RPI) for the technical support during the development of this simulator, and Becca Kennedy (CeMSIM, RPI) for recording the verbal summary of the training sequence.

Funding

This project was supported by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grants NIH/NIBIB 2R01EB005807, 5R01EB010037, 1R01EB009362, 1R01EB014305.

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Affiliations

  1. Center for Modeling, Simulation and Imaging in Medicine (CeMSIM), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA

    Denis Dorozhkin & Suvranu De

  2. Department of Surgery, Mount Auburn Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Jaisa Olasky

  3. Department of Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Daniel B. Jones, Marcos Molina & Steven Henriques

  4. Department of Surgery, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, Buffalo, NY, USA

    Steven D. Schwaitzberg

  5. Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA

    Stephanie B. Jones

  6. Department of Biomedical, Industrial and Human Factors Engineering, Wright State University, Dayton, OH, USA

    Caroline G. L. Cao, Jinling Wang & Jeff Flinn

Authors
  1. Denis Dorozhkin
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  2. Jaisa Olasky
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  3. Daniel B. Jones
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  4. Steven D. Schwaitzberg
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  5. Stephanie B. Jones
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  6. Caroline G. L. Cao
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  7. Marcos Molina
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  8. Steven Henriques
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  9. Jinling Wang
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  10. Jeff Flinn
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  11. Suvranu De
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Consortia

The SAGES FUSE Committee

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jaisa Olasky.

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Disclosures

Dr. Daniel B. Jones is the chair of the SAGES FUSE committee and consultant to Allurion and Intuitive Surgical. Dr. Steven Schwaitzberg has served on advisory panels and has received an honorarium from Stryker and Olympus. He has served on advisory panels for Neatstitch and Surgicquest, Arch Therapeutics Acuity Bio and Human Extensions. He has also received a Grant from Ethicon. Dr. Suvranu, Denis Dorozhkin, Stephanie B. Jones, Caroline Cao, Jaisa Olasky, Marcos Molina, Steven Henriques, Jeff Flinn and Jinling Wang have no conflicts of interest or financial ties to disclose.

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Dorozhkin, D., Olasky, J., Jones, D.B. et al. OR fire virtual training simulator: design and face validity. Surg Endosc 31, 3527–3533 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00464-016-5379-7

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Keywords

  • FUSE
  • Electrosurgery
  • OR fire
  • Virtual reality
  • Simulator