Virtual Reality Percussion Simulator for Medical Student Training

Abstract

As the ‘inventor’ of percussion as a diagnostic tool, Leopold Auenbrugger can be considered one of the founders of modern medicine [1], [2]. As a technique, it enabled clinicians to identify pathologic changes within a patient in realtime - changes which, until then, had only been identifiable posthumously by way of autopsy. In 1761, having spent seven years working in clinical settings, Auenbrugger published a work entitled “New Invention by Means of Percussing the Human Thorax for Detecting Signs of Obscure Disease of the Interior of the Chest”, in which he described four percussive tones, relating each to specific illnesses. The technique is still relevant today, but the sounds, of which 5 types have now been classified, are nonetheless tricky to identify as they are not so obviously distinct from one another. Training medical staff is therefore key, and in the light of the current pandemic, during which training opportunities with real live patients have been somewhat limited, interest in training with virtual patients has increased. The haptic virtual reality [3] simulator provides a means to this end, enabling excellent training opportunities for medical staff in a safe and economically viable environment.