Virtual Heroes’ Fundamentals of Robotic Surgery (FRS) Virtual Team software has been featured on CNBC.
FRS Virtual Team is an interactive, 3D virtual operating theater, where a robotic surgery team can practice critical teamwork and communication skills.
We developed the trainer for the Florida Hospitals Nicholson Center, which, with a grant from the Department of Defense (DoD), is working on developing a standard training curriculum for robotic surgery. With robotic surgery, a surgeon controls a machine that does the operating—he or she may be may be a few steps to thousands of miles away from the patient, nurses, and rest of the surgical team. Such computer-assisted surgery has the potential for greater accuracy; smoother, more precise motions; less tissue trauma, and speedier healing. The drawback is the loss of one-on-one communication between the surgeon and the team: voices may be muffled, face-to-face visual cues are absent. This is why effective communication skills are crucial, and where the FRS Virtual Team comes into play.
The first-person, single player application is based on the DoD Patient Safety Program and Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s TeamSTEPPS curriculum. Players complete six exercises: they learn teamwork and communication skills and must apply the skills in a virtual operating theater. At the end of each scenario, players receive an After Action Review (AAR), which outlines their quality of team communication.
For more information on FRS Virtual Team or other 3D medical training applications, contact Steve McIlwain at smcilwain@ara.com.