The IPE Day Cup is presented to the winners of the IPE Day student competition.

The best in technology can be leveraged to change all aspects of health care including education, training, and practice to improve patient outcomes.

That was the takeaway at the 5th Annual Interprofessional Education Day 2022 Nov. 16 at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation.  This year’s theme “The Future of Healthcare: The Transformative Role of Emerging Technology in Interprofessional Practice” brought together expert health care providers and entrepreneurs to discuss the latest in technology advances and what on the horizon to help enhance training and education, and patient outcomes.

Participants tuned in virtually to hear health care experts highlight their experiences and opinions of how technology can be used across the health care industry.

Featured speakers and topics:

Daniel Kraft, founder of Digital Health and NextMed Health and chair of XPRIZE Pandemic and Health Alliance, presented “The Future of Healthcare” to the virtual audience.  His presentation highlighted how modern technology is being used to help create better patient outcomes and emphasized the importance of leveraging technology to improve health care globally.  Additionally, he introduced listeners to some up-and-coming technologies and applications that are being created that can offer accurate and faster results at a fraction of the cost to patients.

Roger Daglius Dias, MD, PhD, MBA, Harvard Medical School associate professor of emergency medicine and STRATUS Center for Medical Simulation director of Research and Innovation.  His presentation “The Use of Technology to Enhance Interprofessional Communication in Healthcare” provided examples of how technology, including artificial and augmented reality, is leveraged to allow interprofessional teams to more effectively and efficiently communicate to enhance training, education and patient outcomes.

Matthew Mullarkey, PhD, USF Muma College of Business director of the Doctorate of Business Administration Program and executive director of the TGH-USF People Development Institute, presented “Reimagining the Innovation Adoption Curve in Healthcare: A Case for the Binary Adoption Curve.”  His presentation challenged the idea that digital transformation must happen to allow for more and better patient outcomes.

The morning session ended with an interprofessional panel discussion about “Integrating Emerging Technology to Enable True Patient Centered Healthcare.”  Expert panelists offered opinions and personal examples of how technology has helped enhance the efficiency of their practice, their teams, and how they educate and treat patients. Kevin Sneed, PharmD, USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy dean, USF Health senior associate vice president, and IPE Day 2022 co-chair, served as moderator to an expert group of panelists.

• Peter Chang, MD, Tampa General Hospital vice president of Healthcare Design
• Richard Munassi, MD, MBA, Tampa Bay WAVE managing director
• Christopher Fowler, PhD, James A Haley Veterans’ Hospital and Clinics health science specialist.

The afternoon session began with a presentation from Laura Marsden, digital health lead and strategic planner for Jabil.  Her presentation “Breaking Barriers to Healthcare Transformation: The Power of Interprofessional Practice” focused on her personal experiences of physicians struggling to identify a chronic illness in her child and how digital health platforms helped identify and monitor his progress.  She highlighted the importance of interventional opportunities as they pertain to positive long-term patient health and outcomes.

USF Health student competition:

Shelby Rountree, USF Health Morsani College of Medicine Physician Assistant Program, led her team in developing their concept during the student competition.

In keeping with tradition of IPE Day, teams of USF Health students were given a scenario in which they had to find a technological solution for a simulated patient who suffered from multiple illnesses including hypertension, diabetes and glaucoma.  The solution had to be user friendly to the patient, provide short-term and long-term interdisciplinary care solutions.

The top four teams to survive the first round of judging presented their solution to the entire IPE Day cohort in the finals. They had an additional 10 minutes to prepare their final pitch before giving their final presentations.  The winner was determined in an American Idol text-to-vote style judging, and it was team 4, as they were labeled for the finals, that took home the IPE Day Cup.

Team 4 Participants: 

– Lauren Adams (faculty preceptor) – Physician Assistant Program

– Kayla Foran – School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitative Sciences

– Paula Hernandez – College of Public Health

– Victoria Huffman – College of Public Health

– Pauline Nagac –  School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitative Sciences

– Shelby Rountree – Physician Assistant Program

– Emily Small – Physician Assistant Program

– Tristan Stitt – Athletic Training Program

– Alex Thompson – Taneja College of Pharmacy 

USF Health leaders on IPE Day 2022:

“New technologies, from gene sequencing to A.I. and V.R., are helping health care advance so quickly that it’s hard to keep pace. But, we must keep pace to realize their potential to transform health care.  We are part of a health care revolution that offers tremendous promise.”

Charles Lockwood, MD, MHCM, USF Health executive vice president and Morsani College of Medicine dean

“Especially after COVID-19, we’ve seen such an acceleration in the use of technology in education, patient care and training. Yet, we don’t really have an opportunity to teach this and let our students really understand the principles around it, where it’s going, and some of the challenges.  This is why this was the topic for the day.”

Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, executive director of the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation, and associate vice president for USF Health Interprofessional Education and Practice

“The real winners today are going to be the patients in our communities.  I think we are at the forefront of being able to bring that technology experience to our students.”

Kevin Sneed, PharmD, USF Health Taneja College of Pharmacy dean and professor, USF Health senior associate vice president, IPE Day 2022 co-chair

More photos from IPE Day 2022:

The 5th Annual Interprofessional Education Day 2022 was held at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation Nov. 16.

The 5th Annual Interprofessional Education Day 2022 was held at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation Nov. 16.

The 5th Annual Interprofessional Education Day 2022 was held at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation Nov. 16.

The 5th Annual Interprofessional Education Day 2022 was held at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation Nov. 16.

The 5th Annual Interprofessional Education Day 2022 was held at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation Nov. 16.

Story and photos by Freddie Coleman, USF Health Communications and Marketing

With virtual and augmented reality becoming more prominent, the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) is expanding its research efforts to explore the use of virtual and augmented reality in medical simulation training. 

“Traditionally, health care simulation has been actors, task-trainers, and mannequins. Virtual reality allows us to be fully immersed in an alternate world and that world can be an operating room, an outpatient clinic, or an ambulance, and be changed quickly. You will really feel like you’re there, which is challenging to do in a simulation center.” said Yasuharu “Haru” Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, executive director for USF Health CAMLS and associate vice president for USF Health Interprofessional Education and Practice.

As the research mission at CAMLS develops, the goal is to easily export its virtual medical simulation trainings to different parts of the world so other medical professionals can take advantage of the research expertise there.

“You can connect to VR training scenarios from anywhere. You will be able to bring it to your home, bring it to your classroom, and conduct a training within only a headset that is just as powerful as anything in person,” Dr. Okuda said.

Shannon Bailey, PhD, Sr. Human Factors Scientist for USF Health CAMLS and assistant professor for the Department of Medical Education at the Morsani College of Medicine.

To help expand its research efforts, CAMLS hired a PhD, tenure-track researcher, Shannon Bailey. She has over 10 years of experience designing and testing extended reality (XR) training simulations and educational games. In her research, she explores how augmented, virtual, and extended reality technology can be used to inspire effective student learning through adaptive training and natural user interfaces.

Before coming to CAMLS, Dr. Bailey worked for the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD). After gaining extensive experience in military simulation training, she transitioned to the field of medical simulation training as a researcher director for a technology company called Immertec, which develops medical simulation training to impact how medical professionals learn.

“This research is important because it is moving the field forward by systematically testing different ways to approach simulation training and finding ways to optimize the training for both the learner and the medical professionals, which could lead to better outcomes for patients,” said Dr. Shannon Bailey, assistant professor for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

“VR at CAMLS will not replace real-world mannequin-based training,” Dr. Okuda said, but offering a resource to those who lack access to high-fidelity simulation centers allows them to experience the same level of training and experience in a virtual environment. 

“We are thrilled to have Dr. Shannon Bailey as our first PhD tenure-track researcher at CAMLS. What she brings to CAMLS is the ability for us to really lean into this area of extended reality and then apply it into a health care academic setting,” said Dr. Okuda. 

Story and video by Ryan Rossy, USF Health Communications and Marketing

A group of physicians and hospital administrators from national and international hospitals came to CAMLS for a two-day Mass Casualty Incident Training Sept. 7-9.

The USF Health Center for Advanced Medical and Learning Simulation, in partnership with the Center for Emergency Medical Education, recently hosted a group of hospital workers, doctors, nurses, and administrators for a three-day mass casualty incident (MCI) training seminar.

Health care professionals say mass casualty incidents are the one thing you have to train for and hope never happen.  The purpose of the training at CAMLS was so hospital workers understand how important organization and communication are when dealing with MCI’s.

Training participants help a standardized patient to her feet after she simulates collapsing during a two-day mass casualty training event at CAMLS Sept. 7-9.

Clinical providers came from as far as New Zealand and Mozambique, from small community hospitals to large trauma centers, to participate in a variety of roles in several simulated scenarios including, natural disasters, mass shootings and bombings.  Each scenario started with normal hospital activities until they received the call about an incident.  Leaders of groups had to coordinate setting up triage areas, where doctors and nurses would be needed.  Additionally, standardized patients used make-up to mimic injuries associated with the incidents.  Doctors and nurses had to treat the various injuries of all of the patients while sending information to hospital leadership.

A physician participating in the Mass Casualty Training at CAMLS Sept. 7-9 treats a simulated gunshot wound on a mannequin.

Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, CAMLS executive director and USF Health Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice assistant vice president, said that more and frequent training is needed across the board.

“What an incredible three days of mutual learning between our front-line participants and expert faculty as we ran through a multitude of simulation scenarios,” Dr. Okuda said. “We heard from many participants how important and relevant the training was, and how it will help them better respond during the unfortunate, and often chaotic, circumstances of a mass casualty incident. We look forward to continuing the partnership with CEME to deliver much-needed MCI training to a other teams, both in the United States and globally.”

More photos from the event: 

U.S. Virgin Islands and University of the Virgin Islands leaders cut the ribbon on the new Medical Simulation Center, a 21,000 square-foot facility that mirrors the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS). Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, CAMLS director, is fourth from the right.

In 2015, members of the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) met with University of the Virgin Islands president Dr. David Hall and several other dignitaries of the U.S. Virgin Islands.  The visit ended with a handshake and collaboration between the two organizations as UVI began construction on their new Medical Simulation Center.

Seven years later, in June 2022, UVI and CAMLS executives cut the ribbon on the new simulation center, signifying the beginning of a new era of medical training in the Virgin Islands.

The St. Croix-based simulation center mirrors that of CAMLS in Tampa featuring more than 21,000 square feet of trauma and hybrid operating rooms, 18 surgical skill lab areas, four team training rooms, patient exam rooms, dining room and auditorium.  The new facility is anticipated to provide 500 new jobs and attract conferences, training programs and researchers.

Attendees of this historic milestone include:

• Yashiharu “Haru” Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, CAMLS executive director
• Novelle Francis, Virgin Islands senator
• Albert Bryan, Virgin Islands governor
• David Hall, UVI president

Dr. Okuda, in his address to the crowd, stated the new facility is one of more than 150 around the country.  The U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs, Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, Mayo Clinic are among many others that offer similar education facilities.  Luis Llerena, MD, FACS, CHSE-A, medical director of USF Health CAMLS, will lead the CAMLS team responsible for implementing the Fundamentals of Critical Care course in July, in which they will train the trainer and train the provider.

“The simulator is not about technology.  It is a technical tool for training and education.  It is an incredibly powerful tool and resource for all of the territory,” Dr. Okuda said.  “We are committed to helping them succeed as a part of our mission to create and provide experiential learning that improves clinical skills and patient care on our community and around the globe.”

The facility is only the first step toward a grander vision of building a Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) accredited medical school in St. Thomas.

From. Dr. David Hall, UVI president:

“We believe that this center, because of the technology that it has, because of the sophisticated mannequins that you will see, will turn on imagination and innovation lights in the minds of middle school and high school students so that they can start pursuing careers that they did not even know existed.”

More photos from the event. All photos courtesy of CAMLS staff:

The USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) first opened 10 years ago in March 2012, where leaders from the community, education, industry, and simulation partners from around the world met for the grand opening in downtown Tampa.

Under one roof, the 90,000 square-foot, three-story facility houses the latest simulation technology and experiences to train the full spectrum of health care professionals as one of the nation’s top medical simulation facilities.

Part of the mosaic of USF Health’s expanded presence in downtown Tampa, CAMLS, is within walking distance of the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute in the Water Street Tampa urban development district.

CAMLS Grand Opening

“The goal was to build almost a Disney World for clinical providers who could travel from around the world to CAMLS to train with the best technology using simulation, incredible bio skills, fully realistic labs so that they can improve their procedural and clinical skills and then go back to their work and give the best practices both from USF Health experts but also utilizing the latest and greatest technology,” said Dr. Yasuharu “Haru” Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, executive director for USF Health CAMLS and associate vice president for USF Health Interprofessional Education and Practice.

Until recently, CAMLS focused solely on training biomedical businesses and health care professionals. However, that initiative has expanded over the years to offer hands-on simulation training to USF Health students and faculty dedicated to advancing their clinical skills and improving patient safety and quality of care in Tampa Bay, Florida, the U.S., and the world.

“In the beginning, this advanced medical learning simulation was really focused around businesses and training and teaching health care professionals. But over the years, we’ve really evolved into a place where we conduct research in even more advanced training and education, like in virtual reality and augmented reality. We also now impact our future health care professionals by training students from our College of Medicine and College of Nursing both separately and as part of interprofessional teams,” Dr. Okuda said.

Dr. Charles Lockwood and USF President Rhea Law.

USF President Rhea H. Law and Charles Lockwood, MD, MHCM, senior vice president for USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine (MCOM), have been active participants and contributed greatly to the success of CAMLS. President Law has been on the board of directors over the years and has continued to support the organization. Meanwhile, Dr. Lockwood has helped support the efforts of CAMLS around education, research, and innovation.

EMS instructors participated in a training class hosted by the USF Health CAMLS at the Pinellas County EMS Training Center.

Recently, CAMLS has been working on a new community outreach program called “CAMLS Without Walls.” The program was developed so the facility could go out into the community and deliver training through simulation-based education.

“The future of CAMLS is really bright,” Dr. Okuda said. “We have some incredible partnerships with startup companies in Tampa, where we’re building on our business relationships to innovate in areas such as virtual reality and augmented reality. We are also building our research teams to identify new technologies for training and education, and we’re publishing articles on that research. Now we are building a mobile training program called “CAMLS Without Walls,” so we are not bound by training only within CAMLS but can now go out into our community and deliver the training in hospitals in our rural environments and bring USF Health Expertise to places that need it the most.”

Story and video by Ryan Rossy, USF Health Communications and Marketing

The trophy that has become synonymous with USF Health IPE Day. The winning group of the team activity will have their names engraved on the trophy.

Climate change is the biggest, most imminent threat to global health.  That was the key message at the USF Health 4th Annual Interprofessional Education Day, held Nov 10 and hosted by the Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice.

This year’s program, Climate Change: Interprofessional Solutions for a Human Health Crisis addressed offered greater insight into how climate change will impact health care delivery.  The event, brought students, staff, faculty and health care professionals together to discuss how health care professionals can do their part in helping to identify the effects of climate change through patient care.

The morning was filled with impactful virtual presentations from world-renowned physicians, activists, and climate change experts who presented facts and case studies on the impact climate change is having on health care and patient outcomes.  Speakers emphasized the role health care professionals can play in affecting climate change.

The 4th Annual USF Health IPE Day began with a greeting from Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation director and Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice director.

IPE Day featured speakers, topics, and summary:

Aaron Bernstein, MD, MPH, interim director of The Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and assistant professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

Climate Change: What Every Florida Provider Needs to Know

Dr. Bernstein kicked off the featured speakers morning with a presentation on how climate change is fueling more severe weather events and the negative impact extreme heat is having on the health and well-being of the population.   His most powerful example was Hurricane Maria and the ripple effect it had on mainland hospitals.  Puerto Rican-based factories owned by a major manufacturer of IV bags were shut down in the wake of the category-5 hurricane that devastated the U.S. territory in 2018.  As a result, there was a critical shortage of IV bags for hospitals.  Additionally, the hurricane forced nearly 400,000 people to leave, approximately 150,000 of whom moved to Florida.   He also mentioned the health effects associated with extreme heat including higher rates of suicide, preterm births, workplace injuries, and medication usage.

His key messages were:

• We must adapt clinical practice to climate reality.
• Accessible, high quality health care requires climate action.
• Health equity requires climate action.

Slide taken from Dr. Bernstein’s presentation.

Howard Frumkin, MD, DrPH, MPH, senior vice president at The Trust for Public Land, professor emeritus, University of Washington School of Public Health

Healthy Climate Solutions, and the Role of Health Professionals

Dr. Frumkin presented clinical evidence on the power of “hope.” In his presentation, he stated people feel better, handle stress better, live longer, and have greater cognitive flexibility and creativity, and have higher academic achievement when they are hopeful.  His most notable examples were policy shifts that include President Joe Biden’s promise to reduce greenhouse emissions by 50% in the U.S., and 20 countries that made “Net-zero Commitments” at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in the United Kingdom.  “There are many roles for health professionals in tackling the climate crisis and propelling hope,” was the theme of his message.

Slide taken from Dr. Frumkin’s presentation.

Cheryl L. Holder, MD, associate professor and associate dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity and Community Initiatives at Florida International University; co-chair of the Florida Clinicians for Climate Action.

There’s So Much We Can Do

Dr. Holder gave personal examples from patient interactions of how climate change is affecting the most vulnerable of populations.  She stated that particulate pollution are higher in low-income and minority communities.  Homes with inadequate living conditions experienced higher energy burdens than the average household in the same city.  She used the acronym “HEATWAVE,” image below, to describe how climate change can impact health and later mentioned the steps for climate solutions: listen and learn, and advocate.

“HEATWAVE” acronym slide  from Dr. Holder’s presentation.

A panel discussion, moderated by Donna Petersen, USF Health associate senior vice president and USF Health College of Public Health dean, wrapped up the morning session of the day.  Panelists discussed what they were doing to educate their patients and constituents on the effects of climate change and the adverse effects it’s having on health care, and solution to reducing the carbon footprint of their organizations.  Panel experts:

• Caren Solomon, MD, MPH, deputy editor of the New England Journal of Medicine and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
• Patrice K Nicholas, DNSc, DHL (Hon.), MPH, MS, RN, NP, NP-C, FAAN, director of the Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice and Health Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions; co-director for policy and advocacy at the MGH Center for the Environment and Health
• Haley Blackburn, PharmD., BCACP, BC-ADM, assistant professor at the University of Montana Skaggs School of Pharmacy, co-founder of Rx for Climate.
• David Drake, DO, MTS, board of directors president for Physicians for Social Responsibility
• Jon Utech, senior director of the Cleveland Clinic Office for a Healthy Environment

The afternoon session began with Karen Liller, PhD, USF Health College of Public Health professor, and founder and director of the Activist Lab, giving the students a lesson in how to effectively advocate for a cause.  She said the most important components to advocacy are coalition forming, setting a clear and concise mission, and collaboration.  With this new knowledge, USF Health students broke into groups and began working on their team projects.

Karen Liller, PhD, College of Public Health professor and director of the Acitist Lab, education the group on effective advocacy during the 4th Annual USF Health IPE Day, Nov. 11.

In traditional IPE day style, teams of students, with guidance from faculty preceptors, began to form coalitions to advocate for a cause.  Twelve groups were given one of four causes to advocate for.  They were tasked with:

• Researching the economic impact.
• Researching the health impact.
• Identifying how the cause will help reduce the carbon footprint.
• Identifying members to be part of their coalition.
• Present their findings in a 5-minute presentation to the judges.

The top team representing each advocacy cause made presentations to the entire group in the CAMLS auditorium.  After an “American Idol” style text-to-vote, the team charged with Light Rail Advocacy to the County Commissioners took home top honors in the competition.  The team will have their name etched in USF Health history on the IPE Day plaque.

Gabriella Cruz and her team delivered the winning presentation during IPE Day 2021.

The winning team of students from the USF Health 4th Annual IPE Day (not in order as seen): Elliot Barrett, Taneja College of Pharmacy; Kayla Blair, Athletic Training Program; Gabriela Cruz, College of Public Health; Elizabeth Von Haunalter, Morsani College of Medicine; Sarah Kollas, School of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences; Doniya Milani, MCOM; Benedetto Santorelli, College of Nursing; Morgan Smith, Physician Assistant Program; Sara Stubben, COPH. Not pictured is faculty advisor to the group Douglas Haladay, PT, DPT, PhD, MHS, OCS, CSCS, School of Physicial Therapy and Rehabilitation Sciences director.

USF Health and community leaders on IPE Day and climate change:

“This year’s theme brings us face to face with perhaps the most daunting, complex and existential threat facing our small fragile planet. As health providers, our number one priority is to make life better for our patients and our communities. We can do that by working to establish a healthier more sustainable world and caring for those communities most negatively impacted by a warming planet.” Charles Lockwood, MD, MHCM, USF Health senior vice president and Morsani College of Medicine dean.

“IPE Day is a day where we take on big topics that require the collaboration and cooperation of diverse expertise and perspectives from various professions and backgrounds, both within and outside of health care to learn about the importance of IPE and make a difference in our community and beyond.” Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, USF Health Interprofessional Education and Practice assistant vice president, and USF Health Center for Advanced Medical and Learning Simulation executive director.

“Having just lived through a pandemic, it’s hard to fathom that there may be an even bigger threat to humanity.  As trusted health professionals, people look to us for guidance, and we can help our patients and our communities understand that they can and should be part of the collective response and do their part as individuals.” Donna Petersen, USF Health senior associate vice president and USF Health College of Public Health dean.

“As we look at climate solutions, promoting public health and environmental justice go hand-in-hand.  When you think about the challenges ahead, we are listening in congress and we are ready to make progress.” Congresswoman Kathy Castor, Tampa representative to U.S. House of Representatives, chair of the House Committee on Climate Crisis.

Group presentations and preparation during IPE Day 2021:

]]> https://hscweb3.hsc.usf.edu/blog/2021/08/17/immertec-usf-health-earn-nih-small-business-grant-to-study-effectiveness-of-immersive-virtual-reality-in-medical-training/ Tue, 17 Aug 2021 13:07:15 +0000 https://hscweb3.hsc.usf.edu/?p=34660 The research teams will use Immertec’s live virtual reality (VR) platform to train USF Health resident physicians in critical emergency scenarios as a part of their overall graduate […]

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The research teams will use Immertec’s live virtual reality (VR) platform to train USF Health resident physicians in critical emergency scenarios as a part of their overall graduate medical education, measuring learning outcomes and user experience.

TAMPA, Fla. (August 17, 2021) – Immertec, a medtech startup company, and the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS) were recently awarded a $150,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) to examine the effectiveness of training emergency medicine physician residents using Immertec’s virtual reality (VR) platform.

The NIH-funded research will allow Immertec to conduct an experiment in collaboration with USF Health CAMLS to assess the feasibility of live VR training for specific medical tasks carried out by emergency medicine residents from the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. The immersive experience will allow remote professionals from any location to wear the VR headset and train as if they are in the room, with access to timely medical feeds, including X-rays, vitals, and endoscopic cameras.

Medical simulation training with an expert instructor is known to improve patient outcomes, yet expertise and resources are not always available at the point of need. And with limitations on face-to-face instruction, educators previously relied on 2D teleconferencing technology for telementoring, which is limited by lack of depth and field of view.

Immertec’s technology enables medical professionals to train immersively from a remote location by streaming real-time stereoscopic video of the clinical setting to a VR headset. The stereoscopic video provides additional visuospatial information, including multiple medical feeds, compared to 2D displays, providing a greater feeling of immersion while training.

This study will compare Immertec’s live VR training platform to traditional 2D teleconferencing technologies and determine how it impacts the quality of learning, training outcomes, and user experience of remote learning.

The research effort will be led by Shannon Bailey, PhD, human factors scientist at Immertec and principal investigator on this grant, and will be in collaboration with USF Health CAMLS, led by Haru Okuda, MD, executive director of CAMLS, assistant vice president of the USF Health Office of Interprofessional Education and Practice, and professor in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

“The research conducted in collaboration with USF Health CAMLS will provide empirical evidence on how immersive remote technologies compare to traditional telementoring methods in medicine. We look forward to leveraging the extensive knowledge of the USF Health team and CAMLS’ state-of-the-art facility to better understand how to improve our technology to train medical professionals,” Dr. Bailey said.

Such collaborations between industry and academic medicine have the potential to accelerate innovations for improving healthcare education and ultimately patient outcomes.

“We’re excited to collaborate with an innovative startup like Immertec,” Dr. Okuda said. “We believe strongly in the potential of immersive training technology and now have the opportunity to conduct research to better understand how virtual reality can change the way medical professionals learn in today’s climate.”

Immertec’s platform includes a desktop portal that allows companies and organizations to schedule training events, a mobile app that allows attendees to register for events and request a VR headset, and a hardware camera cart present in a clinical setting to stream live content. Immertec’s platform allows medical professionals to be immersed in a live clinical setting, communicate with attendees, and view multiple medical feeds while wearing a VR headset from a remote location.

USF Health CAMLS, located in downtown Tampa, Florida, is one of the world’s largest, free-standing simulation facilities exclusively dedicated to training healthcare professionals. The CAMLS facility is a 90,000-square-foot, three-story facility that provides a state-of-the-art, high-fidelity clinical environment that includes surgical skills labs, operating trauma suites, and patient exam rooms.

The first phase of the research project will validate Immertec’s immersive technology in medical training and provide empirical evidence of the technical and scientific merit of this remote training approach for future commercialization in the health care field.

Images highlighting the technology that will be used in the study, courtesy of Immertec:

On-site at CAMLS, Dr. Luis Llerena demonstrates a procedure on a mannequin while camera and audio equipment record and send the info to trainees on the program.

A trainee uses the VR headshot and controls to participate in Dr. Llerena’s demonstration.

The viewpoint within VR headset include visual, data, and interactivity options.

Counseling space located inside the new counseling center.

Student counseling and primary care services available on the USF campus will now extend to downtown Tampa with the new CAMLS Health and Wellness Center, due to open later in September.

Within the current Student Resource area in CAMLS, the newly designated space provides students who are downtown with access to both counseling services and clinical appointments for primary care providers.

Currently, nearly 1,000 USF Health students attend programs hosted in downtown facilities. The new Center taps into established USF services: the USF Counseling Center, and the USF Student Health Services.

Waiting room of the new counseling center.

To start, a few services will be provided in-person and many via telehealth. In-person services will include appointments with primary care providers and gynecological services, and telehealth will include counseling services, with full sessions available, as well as 15-minute “walk-in” options called Let’s Talk.

“This new space is safe, quiet and confidential,” said Joe Ford associate vice president of USF Health Shared Student Services. “It’s important that students have access to critical counseling and many times it’s hard for them to find private areas for holding appointments when they are at home or in other USF areas where fellow students, staff or faculty are within earshot. This new center will give them a landing spot for meeting with their counselors in private.”

Expanding these successful services to downtown students has been on the minds of many, even as constructions crews began erecting the new Morsani College of Medicine and Heart Institute in the Water Street Tampa redevelopment district, Ford said.

“Our team took on the task of figuring out how to replicate in downtown as many of the services as possible that are available on main campus,” he said.

Physicians’ examination room in the new counseling center.

The new Center is 600 square feet of annexed space in the Student Resource Center of CAMLS. The space has an examination room, reception area, and private space for counseling and psychiatric evaluations.  It has its own private entrance to allow for more discretion for those who visit. The center will be run by Counseling Center staff.

Ford predicts that as the social distancing restrictions start to relax, more services will be able to happen in-person.  He added that the long-term goal is to have all services administered in-person.

“Issues of student well-being is a paramount to us here at the university and making sure our students have access to quality health and counseling services is a priority,” Ford said.  “This is another wonderful example of how well USF Health and Shared Student Services collaborate with our university partners. Healthy students perform well in the classroom and our mission is to help them succeed.”

Inside four bustling rooms at USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS), emergency medicine residents from USF Health, emergency nurses from Tampa General Hospital, and paramedics from Tampa Fire and Rescue worked together in simulation exercises to improve how they work as a team during intense emergency situations. Over the course of the day, the residents rotated through four scenarios: a patient with undifferentiated chest pain, a 5-year-old with complications from a snakebite, an infant with an unstable abnormal heartbeat, and a patient in cardiac arrest.

Ryan McKenna, DO, director of the interprofessional simulation fellowship at USF Health CAMLS and director of simulation for Emergency Medicine, guides participants through the snakebite simulation.

A team of emergency medicine residents from USF Health work together to help a manikin with undifferentiated chest pain.

The interprofessional team involved in the cardiac arrest simulation, practiced the process and communication of the transition from the pre-hospital team to the emergency department. This scenario was intentionally cut short after the first five minutes as a part of its educational design, also called scaffolding, said Ryan McKenna, DO, director of the interprofessional simulation fellowship at USF Health CAMLS and director of simulation for Emergency Medicine. The goal of this kind of teaching method is to make the information more manageable to retain by breaking up the lesson into segments. Not only does scaffolding avoid students becoming overloaded, but it also allows learners to identify subtle ways to improve that might be missed in a larger scenario.

“When you have focused efforts, you have a chunk of a component of that training that can now be brought into clinical practice and everyone has the same mental model and is applying it in the same way,” said Yasuharu “Haru” Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, executive director of CAMLS and executive director of interprofessional education simulation programming for USF Health.

Paramedics from Tampa Fire and Rescue helped to bring the cardiac arrest simulation to life.

During one of the run-throughs of the cardiac arrest simulation, an observing resident noticed that the nurse performing chest compressions on the manikin might benefit from standing on a nearby stool to improve her ability to perform compressions. He brought it over to her and placed it by her feet, but the message about the height-assistance was lost in the chaotic sounds of the emergency department and she did not notice the stool was there until the end of the simulation. That is just a simple example of the kind of communication gaps that can result in a missed opportunity or medical error in a hospital and it’s a small area for improvement that would have been missed in a more complex simulation. Many of the residents reported back to Dr. McKenna that they were already using the skills they learned to improve the hand-off in the subsequent days following the simulation-based training.

An interprofessional team including emergency medicine residents from USF Health, emergency nurses from Tampa General Hospital, and paramedics from Tampa Fire and Rescue, came together for simulation-based training.

In November 1999, the Quality of Health Care in America Committee of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released a report called To Err is Hu­man: Building a Safer Health System that stated as many as 98,000 hospital deaths occur each year due to medical error. Communication error is described as the cause of 60% to 70% of those preventable hospital deaths.

“We’ve done a lot of amazing things in technology and medical knowledge and science, but I think one thing that we haven’t done well enough in health care is really learning to work together in teams,” Dr. Okuda said.

Twenty years after the IOM’s report, the statistics are still alarming. In an effort to make life better and combat medical errors, USF Health incorporates interprofessional education as a primary part of its curriculum.

“Especially in the ER, it’s a team discipline,” said Kelsey Hundley, MD, second-year emergency medicine resident with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “Learning how to interact with people with different backgrounds and roles on the team is really important.”

Kelsey Hundley, MD, second-year emergency medicine resident with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, works with her team to help the infant with an unstable abnormal heartbeat.

Simulation exercises as a part of interprofessional education allows participants to practice in a realistic but safe environment, both for the learners and for the patients.

“It was a pretty enjoyable experience,” said Adam Koby, MD, second-year emergency medicine resident with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. “We see these scenarios all the time in real life, but there’s always the opportunity to improve and I feel the way that you would improve the most is to practice those situations. During these simulations, we learn about individual pathologies, but more importantly, about team building.”

Adam Koby, MD, second-year emergency medicine resident with the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine (right), listens to Dr. McKenna during the debrief of the snakebite simulation.

When the various medical professions came together and were working in a training environment, “I saw smiles, energy and enthusiasm and I’ll bet you, for many of these folks, they won’t forget this,” Dr. Okuda said. “They shared the passion and I think coming together outside the clinical environment often builds stronger teams. So beyond just the training, there are the personal connections and the bonds that were created through this environment and interaction.”

Participants shared laughs and smiles during the simulation-based training held at the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation.

Called the Women’s Health Mini Residency Program, the sessions will help prepare VA health care teams who treat our nation’s women Veterans.

USF Health CAMLS (Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation) was selected by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to be the dedicated facility to host sessions that train VA health care providers from across the country who treat women veterans.

In the five-year agreement with the VA, CAMLS is hosting VA health providers up to twice yearly for training focused on breast and pelvic health, when more than 300 physicians, nurse practitioners and other health professionals travel to Tampa to tap into the expertise offered at CAMLS, including team training facilities, standardized patients and simulation training.

Called the Women’s Health Mini Residency Program, the effort is meant to bolster the expertise of the VA’s primary care health teams for a range of medical needs specific to women veterans.

In a press release sent out earlier this week, VA Secretary Robert Wilkie said: “More women Veterans are choosing VA for their health care than ever before. This mini residency program provides a unique learning opportunity for our clinical teams while addressing the extraordinary growth in VA services to women Veterans.”

Dr. Haru Okuda shares details about CAMLS and the Women’s Mini Residency Program with local reporters.

“We are proud that the VA has tapped into the expertise here at USF Health and at CAMLS for their efforts to enhance care for women veterans,” said Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP FSSH, executive director of USF Health CAMLS, executive director of USF Health Interprofessional Education and Practice, and professor in the Division of Emergency Medicine in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine.

“For CAMLS, for USF Health, and for the greater Tampa Bay region, this is a significant achievement. We are now the national training site for incredibly important training for the coming five years, when health providers in VA medical facilities and clinics from across the country will train at USF Health CAMLS so they can return to their facilities to provide enhanced care for our increasing population of our nation’s women veterans.”

The number of women serving in the military is growing significantly, and a flagship training program is key in VA’s effort to have a workforce prepared to care for women Veterans, said Christine Kolehmainen, MD, director of Women’s Health Education, Women’s Health Services for the Office of Patient Care Services/Veteran Health Administration.

Dr. Christine Kolehmainen, director of VA Women’s Health Education, is interviewed about the Women’s Mini Residency Program hosted at CAMLS.

“Women veterans is the fastest growing veteran population in the VA and accounts for 30 percent of all newly enrolling Veterans,” Dr. Kolehmainen said. “Since 2001, women veterans seeking care within the VA has grown 200 percent from 160,000 to over 500,000 patients. The Women’s Health Mini Residency Program is part of VA’s continued effort to provide cutting-edge health care to the ever-increasing number of women Veterans seeking VA health care. The facilities at CAMLS, including their standardized patients, are invaluable to these trainings and are often cited on evaluations as the best part of the training.”

Central to the success of these training sessions are the standardized patients offered through CAMLS. Gynecologic teaching associates (GTAs) are specially trained standardized patients who helps facilitate medical scenarios during medical histories and examinations for these VA training sessions.

Barb Palmer, deputy field director for Women Health Services, describes the standardized patients used in the VA training.

“GTAs are such a critical component of this training,” said Barb Palmer, deputy field director for Women Health Services at the Veterans Affairs Central Office. “Their efforts contribute significantly to improving providers’ ability to perform or assist with a breast and pelvic exams and help them modify their approach in practice to completing pelvic exams for patients who have military sexual trauma.”

Central to the VA training sessions are standardized patients, offered through the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. In an early practice session at CAMLS, Marcia Weller (center), meets Heather Rogers (right), a nurse practitioner, and Liane Marshall, a nurse, both with the Hershel Woody Williams VA Medical Center in Huntington WV. Photo by Allison Long.

Other scenes from the media event at CAMLS:

Rhea Law, chair of the Board of Directors for the USF Health Professions Conferencing Corp, which oversees CAMLS.

Dr. Susan Perry, vice dean for Faculty and Community Affairs, USF College of Nursing, and a retired Colonel from the U.S. Air Force., with Josh Harris, associate director of sales for Hilton Tampa Downtown.

Dr. Lisa Hardman, deputy director of VA Women’s Health Education, and Elizabeth Jackson, a veteran who shared details of her health care experience with a provider trained through the Women’s Mini Residency Program.

Photos by Freddie Coleman, USF Health Office of Communications.