Completing the procedures in immersive virtual reality

Completing the procedures in conventional virtual reality

In the IVR environment, four different 360-degrees videos were in sequence played as backdrop during the procedure. The videos reflected real life situations in the operating room with two videos representing calm periods, one video representing a light stressor and one video representing a severe stressor with a bleeding (2 ml/s) being triggered in the simulation. Participants complete the procedures while wearing the head mounted device.

Measurement of the participants cognitive load during four different time periods during the three procedures. Cognitive load was estimated by secondary-task reaction time. The investigators used an external and commercially available reaction timer (American Educational Products LLC, USA) to measure participants response time (in hundreds seconds) to an auditory stimulus (a beep). Reaction time was measured before and after the simulation to provide an individual baseline, and during the simulation at t=80 s, t=130 s, t=180 s and t=240 s. All reaction time measurements were done in series of four repeated measurements. It was also noted if the reaction time was measured while the participant was using the foot pedal for cauterization in the simulation.

Time to completion of procedure (measured in seconds)

Damage to surrounding tissue during the procedure (in number of incidents)

Motion sickness was assessed using a post-procedure questionnaire. The investigators used the MSAQ (Motion Sickness Assesment Questionnaire) developed by Gianaros et al in 2001. The questionnaire consisted of 16 statements and the participants had to rate how accurately the statements describe their experience in a numbered scale from 1 (not at all) to 9 (severely). The 16 statements were divided into for categories: Gastrointestinal; Central; Peripheral; Sopite-related. The overall motion sickness score was obtained by calculating the percentage of total points scored: (sum of points from all items/144) * 100. Subscale scores was obtained by calculating the percent of points scored within each factor: (sum of gastrointestinal items/36) * 100; (sum of central items/45) * 100; (sum of peripheral items/27) * 100; (sum of sopite-related items/36) * 100.