Usability of Augmented Reality Technology in Situational Telementorship for Managing Clinical Scenarios: Quasi-Experimental Study.

BACKGROUND: Telementorship provides a way to maintain the professional skills of isolated rural health care workers. The incorporation of augmented reality (AR) technology into telementoring systems could be used to mentor health care professionals remotely under different clinical situations. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to evaluate the usability of AR technology in telementorship for managing clinical scenarios in a simulation laboratory. METHODS: This study used a quasi-experimental design. Experienced health professionals and novice health practitioners were recruited for the roles of mentors and mentees, respectively, and then trained in the use of the AR setup. In the experiment, each mentee wearing an AR headset was asked to respond to 4 different clinical scenarios: acute coronary syndrome (ACS), acute myocardial infarction (AMI), pneumonia severe reaction to antibiotics (PSRA), and hypoglycemic emergency (HE). Their mentor used a laptop to provide remote guidance, following the treatment protocols developed for each scenario. Rating scales were used to measure the AR's usability, mentorship effectiveness, and mentees' self-confidence and skill performance. RESULTS: A total of 4 mentors and 15 mentees participated in this study. Mentors and mentees were positive about using the AR technology, despite some technical issues and the time required to become familiar with the technology. The positive experience of telementorship was highlighted (mean 4.8, SD 0.414 for mentees and mean of 4.25, SD 0.5 for mentors on the 5-point Likert scale). Mentees' confidence in managing each of the 4 scenarios improved after telementoring (P=.001 for the ACS, AMI, and PSRA scenarios and P=.002 for the HE scenario). Mentees' individual skill performance rates ranged from 98% in the ACS scenario to 97% in the AMI, PSRA, and HE scenarios. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence about the usability of AR technology in telementorship for managing clinical scenarios. The findings suggest the potential for this technology to be used to support health workers in real-world clinical environments and point to new directions of research.

Development of a framework to support situational tele-mentorship of rural and remote practice.

Situational tele-mentorship refers to the use of technology to provide interactive, two-way communication between an advisor (the mentor) and a novice (mentee) to enhance the management of a dynamic clinical scenario in real-time.This article develops a conceptual framework to support situational tele-mentorship of healthcare professionals working in rural and remote practices by critically exploring the concept of mentorship within medical education literature and applied to healthcare professionals working in more isolated settings.The situational tele-mentorship framework consists of synchronous telecommunication technologies and the problem-solving process. The end-users of the framework are the mentor located centrally and the mentee dealing with a challenging situation at a remote location using communication technology. The problem-solving process' stages are preparation, identification, action, and evaluation. The mentor and mentee use the 5W1H model, which is a summary of the questions of who, what, where, when, why, and how, applied in two-way communication.This framework provides medical teachers and clinicians with a detailed, yet concise exposition of critical elements required to implement situational tele-mentorship. Healthcare providers can also use this framework to help coordinate resources and manage stakeholders in tele-mentoring situations.

Usability of augmented reality technology in tele-mentorship for managing clinical scenarios-A study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Tele-mentorship is considered to offer a solution to training and providing professional assistance at a distance. Tele-mentoring is a method in which a mentor interactively guides a mentee at a different geographic location in real time using a technological communication device. During a healthcare procedure, tele-mentoring can support a medical expert, remote from the treatment site, to guide a less-experienced practitioner at a different geographic location. Augmented Reality (AR) technology has been incorporated in tele-mentoring systems in healthcare environments globally. However, evidence is absent about the usability of AR technology in tele-mentoring clinical healthcare professionals in managing clinical scenarios. AIM: This study aims to evaluate the usability of Augmented Reality (AR) technology in tele-mentorship for managing clinical scenarios. METHODS: This study uses a quasi-experimental design. Four experienced health professionals and a minimum of twelve novice health practitioners will be recruited for the roles of mentors and mentees, respectively. In the experiment, each mentee wearing the AR headset performs a maximum of four different clinical scenarios in a simulated learning environment. A mentor who stays in a separate room and uses a laptop will provide the mentee remote instruction and guidance following the standard protocols for the treatment proposed for each scenario. The scenarios of Acute Coronary Syndrome, Acute Myocardial Infarction, Pneumonia Severe Reaction to Antibiotics, and Hypoglycaemic Emergency are selected, and the corresponding clinical management protocols developed. Outcome measures include the mentors and mentees' perception of the AR's usability, mentorship effectiveness, and the mentees' self-confidence and skill performance. ETHICS: The protocol was approved by the Tasmania Health and Medical Human Research Ethics Committee (Project ID: 23343). The complete pre-registration of our study can be found at https://osf.io/q8c3u/.

Ghostman: augmented reality application for telerehabilitation and remote instruction of a novel motor skill.

This paper describes a pilot study using a prototype telerehabilitation system (Ghostman). Ghostman is a visual augmentation system designed to allow a physical therapist and patient to inhabit each other's viewpoint in an augmented real-world environment. This allows the therapist to deliver instruction remotely and observe performance of a motor skill through the patient's point of view. In a pilot study, we investigated the efficacy of Ghostman by using it to teach participants to use chopsticks. Participants were randomized to a single training session, receiving either Ghostman or face-to-face instructions by the same skilled instructor. Learning was assessed by measuring retention of skills at 24-hour and 7-day post instruction. As hypothesised, there were no differences in reduction of error or time to completion between participants using Ghostman compared to those receiving face-to-face instruction. These initial results in a healthy population are promising and demonstrate the potential application of this technology to patients requiring learning or relearning of motor skills as may be required following a stroke or brain injury.