Device allows medics to ‘touch’ patients in online training

Medical and tech experts in Wales have developed a virtual training device which can allow medics to ‘touch’ a patient, even if they are thousands of miles apart.

Specialists at the Centre of Excellence in Mobile and Emerging Technologies (CEMET), which is based at the University of South Wales (USW), have been working with Cardiff-based Advanced Medical Simulation Online (AMSO) on developing a proof-of-concept for the remote technology.

If it is proved to work successfully, the technology may allow AMSO’s to offer remote training to users across the globe.

Professor Nazar Amso, chief executive of AMSO, said: “The business was established in 2015 to support skills training for healthcare professionals, with many using our resources from across the globe. This included people in the Bahamas, Middle East, Fiji, and New Zealand, who can access the training remotely day and night.

“While we covered the knowledge and were able to assess if they knew what was being taught, we were unable to assess if the ‘hands-on’ parts of the training has been adequately understood unless the students were able to attend at our simulation centre in Cardiff - which would obviously be costly for students living thousands of miles away.

“This limitation was further accentuated during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact it had on students accessing clinical training in their own place of work. So, we needed to develop a system which could allow the students to prove their skills through immersive virtual reality.”