This month's educator spotlight focuses on Rene Browder, OR Educator at Baptist Health, Alabama, USA, our customer of three years.  Rene implemented Virtual Reality simulation into the OR training program at Baptist Health, and we had a chance to catch up with her to see what she has to share about PeriopSimVR.

What do you think the biggest benefit of PeriopSimVR is?

It helps [learners] so much with watching the field and improving anticipation. You cannot learn anticipation unless you are doing cases and it is amazing how much [PeriopSimVR] helps with teaching the learners how to anticipate. 

Do the surgeons have feedback for learners who practice with PeriopSim before scrubbing?

VR helps a lot with recognizing where instruments are on the table. It helps them pay attention to the live surgery and instruments. The surgeons and preceptors notice if you are paying attention and if you are catching on. If you show that you are getting it, they  think "They're a keeper. Let me invest more time into them." 

Any success stories with learners?

I have definitely seen how much [PeriopSim] does help. We had one nurse that was able to first scrub the Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy by herself within the first week they had her at the facility.  She did the Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy module [on PeriopSim] multiple times.  I could track the improvement in anticipation skills in another one of my learners.

We will have trained over 35 people and overall, I definitely think the management team is seeing the value.