Abstract
BackgroundMultiplayer virtual world (MVW) technology creates opportunities to practice medical procedures and team interactions using serious game software. This study aims to explore medical students’ retention of knowledge and skills as well as their proficiency gain after pre-training using a MVW with avatars for cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) team training.MethodsThree groups of pre-clinical medical students, n = 30, were assessed and further trained using a high fidelity full-scale medical simulator: Two groups were pre-trained 6 and 18 months before assessment. A reference control group consisting of matched peers had no MVW pre-training. The groups consisted of 8, 12 and 10 subjects, respectively. The session started and ended with assessment scenarios, with 3 training scenarios in between. All scenarios were video-recorded for analysis of CPR performance.ResultsThe 6 months group displayed greater CPR-related knowledge than the control group, 93 (±11)% compared to 65 (±28)% (p < 0.05), the 18 months group scored in between (73 (±23)%).At start the pre-trained groups adhered better to guidelines than the control group; mean violations 0.2 (±0.5), 1.5 (±1.0) and 4.5 (±1.0) for the 6 months, 18 months and control group respectively. Likewise, in the 6 months group no chest compression cycles were delivered at incorrect frequencies whereas 54 (±44)% in the control group (p < 0.05) and 44 (±49)% in 18 months group where incorrectly paced; differences that disappeared during training.ConclusionsThis study supports the beneficial effects of MVW-CPR team training with avatars as a method for pre-training, or repetitive training, on CPR-skills among medical students.
Highlights
Multiplayer virtual world (MVW) technology creates opportunities to practice medical procedures and team interactions using serious game software
We have previously developed a MVW-cardio-pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) team training model and reported of its use among medical students
In the last scenario there was significantly less incorrectly paced cycles in the control group compared to the 6 months group (Figure 3). In this exploratory study we found that medical students who in addition to conventional CPR training had participated in two sessions of virtual world CPR team training with avatars, performed better when assessed in full scale CPR simulation
Summary
Multiplayer virtual world (MVW) technology creates opportunities to practice medical procedures and team interactions using serious game software. With increasing computer literacy the use of computer gaming technology for learning and training, i.e. serious games, has been reported in several areas including medicine [9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17] Theoretical benefits with this technology include the availability in remote settings and at free hours, and inherent positive properties of the computer game technology in itself, e.g. the opportunity to tailor it to certain contextual demands and a property to match peoples’ level of knowledge and skills. This technology enables experiential learning often with ample feed-back, creates a high level of engagement among participants, and carries the ability to switch context in order to support transfer [18,19,20]
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