Dr. Steven J Kass

Medical errors are currently the third leading cause of death in the United States, with more than a quarter of a million patients dying each year from these mistakes [1]. These errors are often attributed to human factors such as lapses in attention. However, medical personnel can be trained to detect errors early and take corrective action to prevent patient harm. Building training lessons and making them readily available as the need for additional training arises is a time-consuming task for trainers. In this paper, we present an algorithm to automatically build training lessons for nursing education using large language models (LLMs). Our algorithm is based on advanced prompt engineering techniques that incorporate storytelling techniques to create innovative training scenarios designed to enhance the situational awareness of nurses in dynamic clinical settings. The algorithm has been evaluated in a user study that requires nurse trainers to evaluate training scenarios built by subject-matter experts (SMEs) and our algorithm. The results showed that nurse trainers were not able to distinguish between human and AI-generated scenarios, rating the AI-generated scenarios as equally accurate and creative as human-generated scenarios.

We conducted a cognitive task analysis to provide input on the curriculum and technology currently used to train parachute descent procedures in the Naval Aviation Survival Training Program. Subject matter experts provided insight into the correct decision-making thought processes used in parachute descent. Techniques for analysis included focus groups, interviews, and a think-aloud procedure involving a parachute descent simulator at a Naval Aviation Survival Training Center. Results and findings inform the instructional design process to improve the training pipeline’s development, implementation, and evaluation.

This study examines how adding scents to a virtual reality (VR) environment impacts immersion, anxiety levels, and mood. Participants ( N = 40), aged 18–44 years with varying levels of VR technology experience, were randomly assigned to either the control (no scent), congruent (i.e., scents that match the visual scene), or incongruent scent conditions. Participants were assessed on changes to mood, anxiety levels, immersion, and performance on a memory recognition task. Results suggest that while the VR experience significantly reduced anxiety and lifted mood, scent did not significantly affect memory performance or immersion in the VR experience. Future directions for research include exploring the use of scent to engage participants more fully in exposure therapies.

Situation awareness (SA) in the medical field is critical for reducing medical errors in patient care. Mobile Environment for Training User Situation Awareness (MEDUSA) aims to provide an intuitive platform for training one's situational awareness. The training platform must be user friendly to gain acceptance by medical professionals and must offer support tools to build courses and scenarios for training SA.

Lack of situational awareness (SA) in the medical field is critical for reducing medical errors in patient care.
Mobile Environment for Training User Situational Awareness (MEDUSA) aims to provide
an intuitive platform for training one's situational awareness.
The training platform must be user friendly to gain acceptance by medical professionals and must offer support tools to build courses and scenarios for training SA.

Virtual reality (VR) allows users to experience highly immersive, simulated events that would otherwise be too dangerous, expensive, or just impossible to achieve in a real environment. While VR was once only available to a handful of researchers, commercialization and decreased costs have greatly increased its accessibility to all. Because it provides the capability to precisely control the virtual world, VR has become an increasingly popular tool for use by psychological researchers and therapists, alike. The vast growing literature on VR documents how it has been used for such purposes as gaming and entertainment, knowledge elicitation, training and education, exposure therapy, and physical rehabilitation. However, though the use of VR holds great potential, it may not be suitable for everyone. Many factors must be considered before adopting this technology. This article reviews some of the many uses for VR, as well as its strengths and limitations when used for research and therapy.

Current trends point towards the development and implementation of augmented reality (AR) navigation assistance systems for drivers. Previous research has found augmented reality can benefit driving performance, but the impact of AR on route learning (spatial knowledge acquisition) has received less attention. The current study used simulated driving scenarios to determine how the type of navigation aid device used (i.e., paper map, electronic map, and AR system) affected driving performance and route learning of 62 driving adults. Route learning was examined at landmark, route, and survey levels. The hypotheses tested were that AR would improve driving performance but diminish route learning compared to paper map use; and that AR would outperform electronic map use in both driving performance and route learning. Results indicated that paper map use led to poorer driving performance and greater route learning. However, map recognition may have been a confounding factor in higher level spatial knowledge acquisition with paper map use. Driving performance and route learning were similar for drivers using the electronic map and AR, but some differences suggested that drivers have reduced uncertainty and hesitation while using AR to navigate in unfamiliar areas.