GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — A first-of-its-kind partnership allows paramedics in West Michigan to train for life or death scenarios without the real world consequences of a mistake.
This week, Life EMS Ambulance announced the use of virtual reality technology in its educational curriculum through a partnership with VRpatients, an Ohio-based company.
“We have mannequins where we can do simulations, which is excellent for having muscle memory and being able to touch and perform procedures. But then, the mannequin looks the exact same for every scenario,” said Patrick Cooney-Davis, the field training coordinator at Life EMS Ambulance.
Cooney-Davis says when paramedics try to prepare for emergency situations, it can be difficult; however, he hopes the new program changes those challenges.
“There’s a lot of imagination and pretending and role play that goes into that,” said Cooney-Davis. “This allows us to put them in a very immersive environment where they can kind of experience and see the injuries and the panic in the breathing, things like that, and respond.”
Through the use of headsets, Michael Spink, a Life EMS field supervisor, says it can be customized to a wide-variety of scenarios.
“It helps direct your treatment and your thought processes for what you’re going to do,” said Spink.
He adds the program allows trainees and students to repeat tasks as needed, which strengthens their abilities. They also can get immediate feedback that helps identify areas for improvement.
Taylor Graham calls it a valuable opportunity.
“I think having that immersive capability, being able to do the skills, and see what at least looks like an actual patient is hugely helpful,” said Graham, a critical care paramedic at Life EMS.
A 2022 review of 34 studies that analyzed the use of virtual reality in emergency skills training said it provides medical professionals with educational benefits, but found insufficient evidence to demonstrate clear cost-effectiveness or direct improvement of patient outcomes at this time.
According to Life EMS, it's the only ambulance service provider in West Michigan to use virtual reality training. The company believes as the program expands, its employees will be able to understand better how every moment matters in an emergency.
“In doing this, we’re able to see what the trainees' thought process is, how quickly they would come to conclusions and perform interventions, and critique while we don’t have any of the real-life consequences of patients that are critically ill or injured,” said Cooney-Davis.
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