Teaching Neuraxial Ultrasonography With a Virtual Reality Simulator of Spine

Not Applicable

Not yet recruiting

• Conditions: Neuraxial Ultrasonography
• Interventions: Other: Teaching with VR spine simulator; Other: Traditional didactic teaching

• Registration Number: NCT05874609
• Lead Sponsor: Peking Union Medical College Hospital

Brief Summary

As one of the most extensively practiced regional block, neuraxial anesthesia is the basic skill for anesthesiologist to acquire. Recently, virtual reality (VR) has been proposed as a new simulation training method to enhance medical education. The aim of our study is to evaluate the practical skills of ultrasound scan and the satisfaction of students who undergo training using VR versus traditional didactic lecture.

Detailed Description

This is a prospective, single-center, randomized control trial to evaluate the performance of spine ultrasound scan after different training methods. Participants were randomly divided into two groups receiving different training methods: VR spine simulator or traditional didactic teaching. After the training, participants were required to perform a preprocedural spine ultrasound scan on healthy volunteers using the stepwise technique taught in the didactic teaching session. The participants needed to acquire three key ultrasound views during the scan and recognize the anatomic structures in three ultrasound views.

Study Timeline

• Status Verified: 2023-05
• Study First Submitted: 2023-05-05
• Study First Submitted QC: 2023-05-24
• Last Update Submitted: 2023-05-24
• Study First Posted: 2023-05-25
• Last Update Posted: 2023-05-25
• Study Start: 2023-06-15
• Primary Completion: 2023-06-30
• Study Completion: 2023-06-30

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: NOT_YET_RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 46

Inclusion Criteria

• anesthesia residents in our department

Exclusion Criteria

• having previous experience of spine ultrasonography training
• having previous experience of spine ultrasound scan.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
VR group	Teaching with VR spine simulator	In the VR group, the participants spent 30 minutes with the VR spine simulator after receiving the didactic teaching session.
Control group	Traditional didactic teaching	In the control group, the participants received a 30-min traditional didactic teaching session of spine ultrasonography.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Composite learning score	Up to 12 hours after ultrasound scan is finished	Evaluating the self-assessed theoretical knowledge (10 points), self-assessed practical skills (20 points), self-assessed satisfaction (10 points) and willingness to applicate the technique in future practice (10 points).

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Rate of anatomic structures recognition	Up to 12 hours after ultrasound scan is finished	The correct rate of recognition among 12 anatomic structures (posterior complex, anterior complex, lamina and erector spinae in the parasagittal oblique interlaminar view, spinous process, lamina and erector spinae transverse spinous view, articular process, transverse process, posterior complex, anterior complex and spinal canal in the transverse interlaminar view)
Accuracy of depth measurement to the posterior complex	Up to 12 hours after ultrasound scan is finished	The measurement was deemed correct if the error was less than 0.5cm
Time of scan	Up to 1 hour after ultrasound scan begins	Defined as the time from the probe contacting the skin to acquiring the three key ultrasound views