Cardiff company develops new VR training project for medics

A new virtual reality environment for training medics is being developed with the help of tech experts at the University of South Wales.

A new concept called the ‘mediverse’ is being built with the help of tech specialists at the University of South Wales (USW).

Medical training business Goggleminds, run by Cardiff-based entrepreneur Azize Naji, came up with the training concept which mirrors actual situations that medics are likely to be facing when doing their training, without the need to have real people on which to test their skills.

“What we do is we use the power of virtual reality technology to re-create clinical environments and clinical scenarios to replicate what you’d get in real life,” Mr Naji said.

“So a doctor or nurse, surgeon, or medical student, can test those skills and can retain that knowledge without having to put themselves or patients in danger.”

While Goggleminds looks at developing systems to prepare medics for operating on patients of all ages, the experts at the USW-based Centre of Excellence in Mobile and Emerging Technologies (CEMET) have been working closely with the company to develop a system which focuses specifically on treating children.

Paediatrics

“Through the CEMET project we really wanted to focus on and hone in on paediatrics,” Mr Naji said.

“When specialists are learning about treating children there are more challenges than when dealing with adults, such as consent, the ethics, do we want to put children through any possible trauma?

“So essentially, we’ve addressed those challenges and aim to make it a positive experience for those learning those skills, and make it more accessible.”

Goggleminds is already working with a number of healthcare professionals and medical students in NHS providers and Universities in England and Wales and has created a library of simulations.

It is from here that the idea of the ‘mediverse’ was born

“You might have heard of ‘metaverse’ – a virtual-reality space in which users can interact with a computer-generated environment and other users – and we’ve taken it one step further with the ‘mediverse’,” Mr Naji said.

“So it’s a medical digital platform to allow healthcare professionals and medical students to learn and connect with one another nationally and internationally.”

And the new concept is one that CEMET has been supporting through the development of the training tool.

“The experience is great,” Mr Naji said. “From when we engaged with CEMET specialists we were able to talk about ideas, what we wanted to develop, and what it could look like.

“We really wanted to utilise their skills and experience to develop something. It was seamless. They made what was maybe a little bit complex, which we needed support with, very easy for us to understand.”

Scenario

Daniel Powell, Analyst Developer at CEMET, said: “We created a scenario allowing a student and teacher to enter a virtual hospital room equipped with all the tools needed for a tracheotomy.

“The student can complete guided training or a test, during which they can interact with the tools they need during the procedure. They can also learn how the patient could respond during the procedure, such as becoming pale or their heart rate slowing.

“At the end they are shown the results and hints for a better performance.”

CEMET is based at the University of South Wales, within the Faculty of Computing, Engineering and Science, and is part funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Welsh Government.