A Wheelchair Locomotion Interface in a VR Disability Simulation Reduces Implicit Bias.

This research investigates how experiencing virtual embodiment in a wheelchair affects implicit bias towards people who use wheelchairs. We also investigate how receiving information from a virtual instructor who uses a wheelchair affects implicit bias towards people who use wheelchairs. Implicit biases are actions or judgments of people towards various concepts or stereotypes (e.g., races). We hypothesized that experiencing a Disability Simulation (DS) through an avatar in a wheelchair and receiving information from an instructor with a disability will have a significant effect on participants' ability to recall disability-related information and will reduce implicit biases towards people who use wheelchairs. To investigate this hypothesis, a 2x2 between-subjects user study was conducted where participants experienced an immersive VR DS that presents information about Multiple Sclerosis (MS) with factors of instructor (i.e., instructor with a disability versus instructor without a disability) and locomotion interface (i.e., without a disability - locomotion through in-place-walking, with a disability - locomotion in a wheelchair). Participants took a disability-focused Implicit Association Test two times, once before and once after experiencing the DS. They also took a test of knowledge retention about MS. The primary result is: experiencing the DS through locomotion in a wheelchair was better for both the disability-related information recall task and reducing implicit bias towards people who use wheelchairs.

Virtual functional mobility test: A potential novel tool for assessing mobility of individuals with Parkinson's disease in a multitask condition.

There are few instruments available for evaluating functional mobility during multitasking in people with Parkinson's Disease (PD). Virtual Reality is a potentially tool capable of aiding in the evaluation of functional mobility. The purpose of this study is to verify the potential of the Virtual Functional Mobility Test (VFMT) as a clinical tool to assess functional mobility of people with PD during multitasking condition. 25 people with PD and 25 people without PD, matched for age and sex, were recruited. Participants were evaluated through the Trail Making Test, Timed "UP and GO" test, Timed "UP and GO" test in dual task condition and through the VFMT, composed of 1) a simple task, and 2) a complex task. The VFMT and clinical tests were sensitive to differentiate the groups, except the trail making test part B (p = 0.332) and complex task (p = 0.052). Strong correlations were observed between parts A and B of the trail making test (r = 0.75) and complex task (r = 0.72); Moderate correlations between Timed Up and Go test and Timed Up and Go test in dual task condition with simple task (r = 0.47) and complex task (r = 0.55), respectively, were found. The complex task and simple task showed excellent and moderate reliability intra-rater, respectively. It was concluded that the novel VFMT is feasible, sensible, reliable and has potential as an instrument for the evaluation of functional mobility during multitasking in people with PD.

VR Disability Simulation Reduces Implicit Bias Towards Persons With Disabilities.

This article investigates how experiencing Virtual Reality (VR) Disability Simulation (DS) affects information recall and participants' implicit association towards people with disabilities (PwD). Implicit attitudes are our actions or judgments towards various concepts or stereotypes (e.g., race) which we may or may not be aware of. Previous research has shown that experiencing ownership over a dark-skinned body reduces implicit racial bias. We hypothesized that a DS with a tracked Head Mounted Display (HMD) and a wheelchair interface would have a significantly larger effect on participants' information recall and their implicit association towards PwD than a desktop monitor and gamepad. We conducted a 2 x 2 between-subjects experiment in which participants experienced a VR DS that teaches them facts about Multiple Sclerosis (MS) with factors of display (HMD, a desktop monitor) and interface (gamepad, wheelchair). Participants took two Implicit Association Tests before and after experiencing the DS. Our study results show that the participants in an immersive HMD condition performed better than the participants in the non-immersive Desktop condition in their information recall task. Moreover, a tracked HMD and a wheelchair interface had significantly larger effects on participants' implicit association towards PwD than a desktop monitor and a gamepad.

The Impact of a Location-Sensing Electronic Health Record on Clinician Efficiency and Accuracy: A Pilot Simulation Study.

BACKGROUND: Through the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act of 2009, the federal government invested $26 billion in electronic health records (EHRs) to improve physician performance and patient safety; however, these systems have not met expectations. One of the cited issues with EHRs is the human-computer interaction, as exhibited by the excessive number of interactions with the interface, which reduces clinician efficiency. In contrast, real-time location systems (RTLS)-technologies that can track the location of people and objects-have been shown to increase clinician efficiency. RTLS can improve patient flow in part through the optimization of patient verification activities. However, the data collected by RTLS have not been effectively applied to optimize interaction with EHR systems. OBJECTIVES: We conducted a pilot study with the intention of improving the human-computer interaction of EHR systems by incorporating a RTLS. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of RTLS on process metrics (i.e., provider time, number of rooms searched to find a patient, and the number of interactions with the computer interface), and the outcome metric of patient identification accuracy METHODS: A pilot study was conducted in a simulated emergency department using a locally developed camera-based RTLS-equipped EHR that detected the proximity of subjects to simulated patients and displayed patient information when subjects entered the exam rooms. Ten volunteers participated in 10 patient encounters with the RTLS activated (RTLS-A) and then deactivated (RTLS-D). Each volunteer was monitored and actions recorded by trained observers. We sought a 50% improvement in time to locate patients, number of rooms searched to locate patients, and the number of mouse clicks necessary to perform those tasks. RESULTS: The time required to locate patients (RTLS-A = 11.9 ± 2.0 seconds vs. RTLS-D = 36.0 ± 5.7 seconds, p < 0.001), rooms searched to find patient (RTLS-A = 1.0 ± 1.06 vs. RTLS-D = 3.8 ± 0.5, p < 0.001), and number of clicks to access patient data (RTLS-A = 1.0 ± 0.06 vs. RTLS-D = 4.1 ± 0.13, p < 0.001) were significantly reduced with RTLS-A relative to RTLS-D. There was no significant difference between RTLS-A and RTLS-D for patient identification accuracy. CONCLUSION: This pilot demonstrated in simulation that an EHR equipped with real-time location services improved performance in locating patients and reduced error compared with an EHR without RTLS. Furthermore, RTLS decreased the number of mouse clicks required to access information. This study suggests EHRs equipped with real-time location services that automates patient location and other repetitive tasks may improve physician efficiency, and ultimately, patient safety.