Vascular1: Development and Evaluation of a Virtual Reality Ultrasound Guided Vascular Access Training Module

Direct vascular access is a common surgical procedure performed 150 million times annually in the United States. Ultrasound guided vascular access (UGVA) is a technique that uses real-time ultrasound imagery to guide the penetration of a micropuncture needle during direct vascular access. UGVA has proven to prevent unnecessary puncture attempts and improve patient satisfaction. UGVA training remains limited for medical students and surgical residents. They often learn on real patients that may suffer unnecessary complications. Current education options are limited by high costs and an inability to train essential hand-eye coordination skills. Recent advances in virtual reality (VR) technology enable high fidelity simulations of real-life environments. This paper introduces Vascular1 as an affordable VR module to train essential hand-eye coordination skills for safe and effective UGVA. Vascular1 was developed over an extensive period of nine months to create a robust training experience. It operates on the Oculus Quest hardware to ensure affordability, ease of use, and scalability. A trial was conducted to test Vascular1 as an effective training platform. Trainees reported an average 28% increase in confidence after training on Vascular1. The consistent increase in confidence and satisfaction with the VR experience establish Vascular1 as a competent training platform. Vascular1 demonstrates that an affordable and effective surgical training module is possible with VR.