Prehospital care, defined as "emergency medical care given to patients before arrival in hospital," is essential to the continuum of healthcare.¹ The caliber of training received by EMS personnel will dictate not only the quality of care administered during this hyper-acute period, but it will also have a significant impact on subsequent patient outcomes, resulting in either successful patient stabilization or an increased risk of mortality. 

EMS providers make on-the-spot, in-the-moment, critical decisions of a lifesaving nature. Simulation-based medical training with realistic equipment (patient simulators) continues to prove its value for teaching the kind of critical thinking and decision-making skills that are necessary in emergency care situations.

Learners benefit from simulation training in emergency medical care due to the opportunity it affords to apply theory to practice while enabling learners to master patient care procedures without posing harm to patients.

Reliable Emergency Care Training. Meet CAE Ares.

Augmented Reality in Emergency Healthcare Training 

Augmented reality, which sometimes is referred to as ‘mixed reality‘, or ‘blended reality,’ is a technology that allows a live real-time direct or indirect real-world environment to be augmented/enhanced by computer-generated virtual imagery information (Carmigniani & Furht, 2011; Lee, 2012). 
 

• Augmented reality creates hyper-realistic and visually-dynamic simulations 

• Augmented reality places learners in a safe environment in which to acquire procedural skills mastery 

• Augmented reality learning environments deliver repeatable, standardized content in an interactive  manner

When used within a healthcare training environment, augmented reality technology provides access to educational material in an interactive context that accelerates the learning curve. With anatomical structures represented as three-dimensional holograms freed from the physical constraints of the manikin, clinical learners experience a pronounced sense of presence, becoming more fully engaged in the perceived realism of the simulation. 

Because the healthcare education experience is immersive and feels authentic, simulation learners are more apt to improve their acquisition of skills and knowledge, develop a deeper understanding of spatial relationships and medical concepts, and perform cognitive-psychomotor tasks with an increased level of competence. 

Whether resuscitating a patient following cardiac arrest, or responding to a driver pinned behind the steering wheel of a crashed car, emergency medical training that uses simulation-based education is highly effective in assisting learners to develop critical thinking skills that enable appropriate, and effective, rapid responses and accurate decisions within healthcare environments where time is of the essence.