FundamentalVR, global pioneers in using immersive technology to improve the way surgeons are trained, today announced the expansion of its educational platform, Fundamental Surgery, with the addition of a new education modality @HomeVR. For the first time, this brings educational simulations accredited by medical professional bodies to standalone VR headsets such as Oculus Quest and HTC Vive Focus Plus, making Fundamental Surgery the most advanced multimodal education and simulation platform available.
FundamentalVR set the bar when it created the world’s first educational surgical simulation platform using HapticVRTM, which combines VR with the sense-of-touch to enable true skills acquisition. Already deployed in hospitals around the world, it allows surgeons to experience the same sights, sounds and feeling they would in a real procedure, enabling them to hone and rehearse skills in a safe and measurable environment dovetailing perfectly with cadaveric and assisted/observational learning in the operating room.
The hardware-agnostic software solution can mimic the physical cues of surgical actions, medical tools, and tissue variations. Studies have shown that this aids learning in helping trainees develop the muscle memory essential for surgical skills. The platform utilizes off-the-shelf hardware (PCs/laptops, VR headset and haptic arms), making it less than a tenth of the cost of current learning practices.
The launch of @HomeVR compliments the gold standard education capabilities of the HapticVRTM modality and expands the platform to provide even more flexible and cost-effective learning opportunities. A single user login ensures a ubiquitous experience with the same high-fidelity graphics, education content, and data tracking capabilities across each modality. It is a significant advance for medical education and fuses Cutaneous (tactile vibration) and Kinesthetics (force feedback & position) haptic technologies in a single platform, optimized for different stages of the learning process.
“Leveraging low-cost hardware, our multimodal platform allows medical institutions to take advantage of the proven benefits of surgical simulations at scale, and in ways that ensure the consistency of training delivery, and effectiveness of their curriculums,” said Richard Vincent, CEO, and co-founder, FundamentalVR. “The @HomeVR modality provides a highly mobile and cost-effective way to acquire the knowledge and understanding of the technical skills required to carry out surgical procedures. The HapticVRTM modality helps students apply and deepen this knowledge while becoming proficient in the skills required to carry out the procedures. Together, they provide a more powerful education platform. No other software platform can do both nor have received CME or CPD accreditation from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons and the Royal College of Surgeons of England.”
Training Anytime, Anywhere
To use @HomeVR, users download simulations to their standalone VR headset and log in with their Fundamental Surgery account details. They can then access the Fundamental Surgery procedure. The procedures available are being phased in for existing customers starting with Total Hip Arthroplasty (Anterior Approach).
Flexibility within training is an important factor in the busy life schedules of surgeons and residents. Therefore, offering different training modalities that have a single user view and one consolidated data record can provide both residents as well as residency managers and directors with an invaluable additional tool and complete scalability and portability. It is extremely easy to simply jump between platforms, depending on whichever learning modality works for the user.
Data-Driven Insights
Underpinning both modalities is a robust, intuitive, and secure data dashboard. It tracks hundreds of data points to provide a level of analysis not previously available to course directors or trainees.
Every user interaction is measured and recorded, such as surgical gaze, respect for tissue and efficiency of movement, widely connected with surgical proficiency, to provide accurate real-time feedback all within a single display that can be accessed anywhere by any device. It is this data from the dashboard, which provides performance insights, leading to actionable learnings, all enabling an improvement of skills development and learning pathways. The data collected is also compliant with CME (AAOS)* and CPD (RCS)** specifications allowing the use of either modality to count towards a surgeons’ ongoing professional development.
Named as one of the best inventions of 2018 by Time magazine and 2019 winners of the SXSW Innovation Award for VR/AR & MR, Fundamental Surgery is deployed with medical institutions around the world, including Mayo Clinic and UCLA in the U.S., UCLH in the U.K. and Sana in Germany. It was created by a team of VR, haptic specialists and surgical training experts and can be seen in action here.
For further information about Fundamental Surgery, please visit: www.fundamentalsurgery.com.
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