Surgical Skill Performance Under Combat Conditions in a Virtual Environment

Abstract

A group of medical students were taught to perform a tube thoracostomy on a mannequin simulator in a traditional medical school setting and demonstrate competency in that environment. Immediately afterward and again four months later, they performed the procedure in a CAVE virtual environment running a combat simulation under day and nighttime lighting conditions. The results showed that accuracy suffered in the simulation. Participants also needed more time to perform the procedures under the nighttime conditions. Further, performance did not change over the retention interval. The results suggest that although the surgical skills acquired by students in a traditional medical school setting are robust, they may still be compromised under hazardous conditions. More important, these findings show that virtual environments can provide a safe and effective venue for military medical personnel to train for dangerous duty.