An Augmented Reality tourniquet tightening trainer for peripheral venepuncture

Abstract

Appropriate tightening of a tourniquet at 5–10 cm above a venepuncture site assists in inducing stasis and identifying veins for blood draw in clinical settings. Here, a setup that physically simulates a section of the human arm has a force sensor built in to send its signals wirelessly to an Augmented Reality (AR) tool for data interpretation. The tool presents a computer-generated rendition of a patient to the user via a tablet and facilitates user guidance to achieve the desired tourniquet force applied. System tests indicated low levels of signal noise and drift. Reference force values and range were obtained by testing the performance of 3 healthcare participants with deep experience in venepuncture procedures. These values were incorporated into the AR app in the training mode to provide visual guidance of target performance. Tests with 5 non-healthcare participants revealed an ability to raise average force readings by 2 times to be within 6% of the values attained by the healthcare participants after training with the AR tool. The AR tool offers opportunities for participants to train and assess themselves more frequently. When incorporated into phlebotomy training programs, this AR tool holds promise in facilitating rapid proficiency acquisition and performance consistency when applying tourniquet for venepuncture procedures.