SBIR-STTR Award

ToLTech will design a realistic and adaptive, virtual reality based simulator for practicing regional anesthesia skills on any part of the human body. The simulator will use haptic and graphic display to give the student the experience of feeling and seeing the interaction of each tool, including needles, with the virtual patient. The simulated patients will be derived from the Visible Human and will respond to both nerve stimulation and drug induced blockage in response to the position of the needle tip when either stimulation is applied or anesthesia injected. The simulator will be combined with a Mentor program that will guide and test the development of the student. This training tool can be used and reused in a learner-centered environment and utilized at the user's pace and time. A full curriculum for nearly all regional anesthesia procedures will be provided in the Phase II portion of this grant. Milestone demonstrations of the fidelity of the virtual anatomy and needle will be available during the Phase I portion of the grant. In addition, one full regional anesthesia lesson will be demonstrated by the Mentor program during the phase I.

Keywords:
Virtual Reality, Simulation, Simulation Of Nerve Blocks

ToLTech will create a virtual workbench simulator presenting students with the ability to experience the look and feel of placing needles anywhere in one complete male patient and anywhere in the pelvis of one female patient. The simulator will allow for the selection of patient postures important for regional anesthesia procedures. The virtual patients will respond properly to nerve stimulation from electrical impulses and attenuation from drugs. They will adapt to present variation and morphologic differences. In addition, the virtual patients will present a significant variety of symptoms and complications. The simulator will be augmented with a mentoring program, the “Mentor,” that leads the student through specific cases from preparation through result. The Mentor will tightly couple all forms of electronic media with knowledge of any desired parameter from the simulator to adaptively guide and test the student. In addition to the haptically enabled virtual workbench, a non-haptically enabled simulator and mentor will be combined to produce a completely web-based teaching environment capable of projecting the knowledge and skills of a small group of experts throughout the world.

Keywords:
Regional Anesthesia, Simulation, Haptics, Visible Human, Nerve Blocks, Virtual Reality Trainers