Academics from the Faculty of Medicine and Health were looking for another mode of teaching to support the physiotherapy program's students learning the practice of auscultation. The idea was to create a patient and stethoscope simulation that allowed the students to practice the locations and the what to listen for with various conditions using virtual reality.
Project Details
The experience allows students to position the stethoscope at various points on one of the virtual patients and then listen to the audio change and shift as they do so to try and diagnose the conditions present.
TECHNOLOGY & DEVELOPMENT
The active design and development of the project continues in collaboration with Physiotherapy staff and students. The staff and work integrated learning student developers are using the Unity game engine to bring together all the elements and deliver the VR experience using our Meta Quest 3 headsets.
Credits
"The Immersive Technology team has been instrumental in developing a teaching innovation we will deliver in our physiotherapy program. One of our clinical skills, auscultation of the chest with a stethoscope, has traditionally occurred on a peer with no clinical signs or by listening to audio sounds on YouTube videos. This delivery is not ideal as it does not replicate what is experienced when students see real patients on clinical placement. In collaboration with The Immersive Team, we have developed a Virtual Reality tutorial module for students that replicates the sounds heard on the chest of a patient. The team has integrated real chest sounds into the module and we will be further evaluating this innovation with a research study in 2025. It has been a pleasure to work with Graham and the team. Nothing is ever too hard for them! They have found solutions for any challenges along the way during development."
Jacque North, Lecturer, School of Health Sciences, Faculty of Medicine & Health
Key Academics
Jacqueline North (Lecturer, School of Health Sciences, Medicine & Health)
Serena Hong (Lecturer, School of Health Sciences, Medicine & Health)
Design & Development
Ashley Hall (Immersive Technologies Specialist & Developer)
Work Integrated Learning Student Placements
Jeremy Tran (Software Engineering Thesis)
Get Involved
There are internal Teams Channels, Miro Boards and working groups covering the development collaboration with Medicine & Health - Physiotherapy academics. To find out more, join the team, get a demo or have your class or promotion use-case included just get in touch.
- Email: [email protected]