Immersive learning has become part and parcel of quality training across a variety of fields. Industry leaders are turning to cutting-edge, research-backed technology to prepare learners for sustained success in a future where digital literacy is a crucial skill across disciplines. 

Mixed reality (MR), which blends virtual and real-world elements to create ultra-realistic environments, has become a vital tool for preparing future workforces for real-world placement. Stakeholders across healthcare, technology and education agree – here’s what they have to say about mixed reality and GIGXR’s role in transforming healthcare education through true-to-life training scenarios.

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Modern nursing education has a plethora of technology with which to help students prepare for entry into the healthcare field and caring for patients. Manikins and task trainers are excellent for practicing manual skills required in nursing. But there is one critical aspect of training that goes beyond textbook knowledge and practical physical ability: decision making.

“Providing students with opportunities to develop clinical reasoning skills before entering clinical practice is foundational to safe nursing practice. However, with factors such as increased competition for clinical placements, advances in digital health technology, pressure on teaching timetables etc., alternative methods of delivery are necessary to ensure students gain confidence in the development of their clinical skills,” wrote Emma Collins and Liz Ditzel of Otago Polytechnic, in a study published in the Journal of Nursing Education and Practice.

COVID hit U.S. higher education budgets hard. Already lean from recession cuts, two- and four-year institutions had to cope with the fallout of millions of lost revenue dollars each. More costly and space-intensive programs such as simulation centers were especially hard hit, as campus closures rendered them essentially useless during lockdown.

Now, there is new hope on the horizon in the form of the $81.88 billion dollar aid package known as HEERF II. Read on for a guide to what this funding means for you and your institution. The deadline to apply is April 15, 2021.

The healthcare industry is  at a watershed moment for extended reality (XR). Just as cell phones evolved from 2.5-pound behemoths to ubiquitous pocket-size devices, we see XR as moving from an experimental novelty to a cutting-edge tool to an everyday necessity for clinical practice.

Looking to learn more about extended reality (XR)? Wondering what it really has to offer in healthcare training and medical education?

Join GIGXR’s Garry Putland for an interactive interview on Tuesday, February 9th at 11:00PM to 11:20PM CET / 5:00 PM to 5:20 EST. See how XR broadens access to key elements of simulation training as part of the 24 hour Holographic Surgery virtual event presented by Microsoft.

Today’s students have the advantage of technology that enables them to gain more skills in a no-risk environment before they head out in the real world and to have tools that aid them in diagnostics and monitoring.

However, those educational aids don’t train medical staff in how to respond to a patient who, say, is facing a difficult diagnosis, or how to read a patient’s face and movements to assess pain levels.

While high-tech manikins can help students improve their interpersonal skills by simulating a real patient, standardized patients (SP), or patient actors, have become the gold standard in helping students master this key area of their learning.

Even in a world where more workplaces are allowing for remote work, higher education has remained mostly an on-campus effort. 

State-of-the-art simulation labs, combining use of manikins, computed-based simulation and task trainers bring a plethora of tools under one roof. That’s especially important as simulation can now account for up to 50% of clinical hours required for graduation, at least in the U.S. and growing in other parts of the world. 

GIGXR recently demonstrated remote capabilities for instructor-led simulation training, scaling access of holographic standardized patients to help students meet clinical training requirements. 

If you want to add immersive learning to your curriculum or want to upgrade from Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR) options, you may have to justify the investment in Extended Reality (XR) and Mixed Reality (MR) devices. 

This might be particularly challenging heading into 2021, as universities cope with the financial fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. 

For instructors and students in healthcare fields, though, the investment in XR pays off in both quality of education and a favorable cost-benefit analysis when compared to other types of simulation teaching and training.

During the spring semester, many academic institutions felt comfortable planning towards in-person learning in the fall. Spikes in the COVID-19 pandemic forced many of them to reevaluate, creating challenges for teachers and students across all disciplines. 

Textbooks, manikins, videos and conventional computer-based programming only go so far when preparing nursing students for real-life patients and situations. Immersive learning addresses some of those shortcomings by working in highly realistic scenarios. 

GIGXR’s HoloPatient utilizes volumetric video capture of standardized patient actors to create an extended reality (XR) application that allows instructors to simulate a variety of pathologies and states of decline. HoloHuman is a 3D anatomy model that lets students look at 4500 different anatomical structures.