A Wearable Health Simulator

Project Summary/Abstract The proposed project will develop a wearable health examination simulator for standardized patient (SP) actors and healthcare students. Significance: Until recently, most clinical teachers and medical students have regarded using medical students as surrogate patients for peer teaching of physical examinations and clinical skills as practical and uncontroversial. Recent changes to medical curricula and privacy considerations have led to questions and policy modifications about the acceptability of this practice. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that creation of a wearable health simulation can overcome issues associated with peer physical examinations and that such a system can enhance and aid these educational interactions by providing a more encompassing, structured, and realistic simulation experience. Specific Aims: To prove feasibility of the proposed system in Phase II, IDL and its collaborators will: (1) Design a suite of simulation curricula for use with the system, (2) Develop a production-ready system, interactive tools, and implement the curricula, and (3) Evaluate the system through human subject testing and expert evaluation (non-clinical trial).Project Narrative In healthcare education, patient simulation has been proven to be essential and effective for the development of clinical expertise whereby students can develop and practice their skills (cognitive, motor, and critical thinking) in an environment that does not endanger patients. Over the past decade, medical simulation has been experiencing explosive growth and widespread adoption as there are now over 800 medical simulation centers in the US alone and the global market for health simulation is projected to reach $1 Billion by 2020. It is hypothesized that an advanced wearable health simulator will open new possibilities for exploration and enhanced learning interactions for medical education. 3T