Student paramedics at a university in West Yorkshire are believed to be the first in the UK to use virtual reality (VR) technology as part of their training.
The trainees at the University of Huddersfield are using the technology to train for mass casualty incidents such as terrorist attacks and marauder attacks.
The technology can be used by up to six students at a time in the immersive suite in the Daphne Steele Building on the university’s National Health Innovation Campus.
Nick Holbrook, an A&E operations team leader for Yorkshire Ambulance Service, described the experience as invaluable: “They are getting to see as close to a real-life version as they can from in a classroom.”
The software can accurately recreate mass casualty incidents in real time, such as accidents or terrorist attacks.
“The students are getting the exposure to these sorts of incidents they would not normally get,” said Holbrook.
He added that the technology would help them in their future careers: “They will get more exposure to real-life situations like this, so they should become more employable so we can have a better paramedic when we hire them into Yorkshire Ambulance Service.”
Eve Quainton, a student on the MSc Paramedic course, said she would feel more prepared to deal with being faced with such situations in reality having used the technology.
“It is already helping with my confidence and just general improvement as well, and looking forward to these kinds of situations – not that anyone looks forward to major incidents, but I do not fear them quite as much as I would otherwise,” she said.
More student paramedics can perform triage at once using the technology than if they were to use the traditional teaching practice of recreating an incident with actors or mannequins.
Fellow student Cal Wade agreed that being able to see a more realistic recreation of scenarios they could encounter in their careers had eased some of his anxieties.
“It is a tense thing that you would deal with for the first time ever, and the last thing anybody really wants to do is for the first time ever to have to deal with it on their own, or for the first time to freak out,” he said.
“It is stressful, it is crazy. The VR helps with that.”
Wade added that he felt using the technology had accelerated his learning.
“You get taught in a lecture or wherever you are taught and then you have to wait for a real world experience, whereas with this you do not have to wait.”
Jenny Dobbin, a senior university practitioner at the University of Huddersfield, said the realism of the VR helped the students’ learning.
“When you are doing simulation, it is really difficult to create injuries – for example, an amputated leg that is realistic, with the amount of blood that you need,” she explained.
“This software is excellent in recreating those kinds of injuries that we would not be able to recreate easily, but in a virtual reality it feels real.”
Jay Robinson, also on the paramedic course, said using the simulation consolidated students’ learning more than other ways of being taught.
“It sticks in your head very easily because you are having to do it,” he said.
“You are having to think about it, you are having to put everything you already got taught into practice.
“So, it very much does just set things in stone in your head.”
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