ARCHIE MD INC. — Department of Health and Human Services SBIR Phase II: 400

Description

The physician to population ratio is beginning to plateau and is expected to decline right as the U S elderly and more medically needy population is on the rise Thus the physician workforce may not be able fulfill the U S populationandapos s demand In fact in the United States may face shortages of primary care physicians and medical specialists a total of too few doctors Other projections estimate that the supply of US physicians may decrease even lower with a shortfall as high as over by Furthermore the amount of quality time medical students have to learn procedures has drawn concern from researchers ArchieMD has been developing a medical simulation augmented reality system to combine multimedia technologies with manikins to enable internal anatomy overlays on medical trainers ArchieMD developed the technology based on a human manikin task trainer combined with D and D anatomic visual models presented on a screen Using augmented reality tracking ArchieMDandapos s D imagery of the bodyandapos s internal anatomy was superimposed over the view of the user providing additional D didactic information while using a task trainer manikin One of the key limitations of the approach is that it provides a rd person Point of View POV instead of a st person POV While the rd person POV approach has utility for group activities and demonstration it is of lesser value to the individual practicing the procedure The use of a st person POV would enable seamless integration into medical training This could be enabled through the use of augmented reality glasses or goggles Recently a number of exciting developments have occurred with respect to optical see through augmented reality glasses and goggles Phase I SBIR project ArchieMD developed a st person POV MR trainer for Central venous catheter placement which was evaluated at the University of Michigan for preliminary utility and feasibility in medical education During Phase II we will continue the work by completing the following specific aims Specific Aim Continue development of the st person POV Mixed Reality trainer to include o Expanding procedures to incorporates a full range of important medical procedures including IV and arterial line placement neuraxial techniques spinals epidurals peripheral nerve blocks paracentesis thoracentesis and chest tube insertion o Optimize st person POV MR trainer for improved performance and alignment Specific Aim Conduct iterative usability testing with the expanded st person POV Mixed Reality trainer Specific Aim Conduct a randomized controlled trial to assess the ability of the st person POV Mixed Reality to improve procedural skills as compared to traditional manikin trainers Public Health Narrative This proposed project could benefit public health by providing a novel method for efficiently and effectively training medical students key clinical skills thus improving the knowledge and ability of our nation s future physician workforce