Minimally Invasive Expeditionary Surgical Care Using Human-Inspired Robots

This technical report serves as an updated collection of subject matter experts on surgical care using human-inspired robotics for human exploration. It is a summary of the Blue Sky Meeting, organized by the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), Pensacola, Florida, and held on October 2-3, 2018. It contains an executive summary, the final report, all of the presentation materials, and an updated reference list

Telementoring And Computer Mediated Discussions: A Description Of Online Instructors\u27 Support

The purpose of this study was to evaluate online instructors\u27 characteristics and preferences concerning telementors\u27 characteristics and role during a computer mediated discussion. In addition, this work looked for relationships between online instructors\u27 characteristics in correlation to their support for the utilization of telementoring. Two thousand online instructors from a convenience sample received a request to participate email that contained a link to an anonymous contingency survey. Of those contacted, 323 instructors responded to the survey. Online instructors responded to questions about their characteristics, level of support for telementoring, and perceptions on a telementor\u27s characteristics and roles. Spearman rho tests for each variable were significant when certain variables were correlated with instructors previously assisted by a telementor. Results indicated that online instructors did not support the use of telementoring by the highest percentage. However, instructors who had been assisted by a telementor depicted support for telementoring. Of the telementors\u27 characteristics and roles, online instructors who had been assisted by a telementor identified telementor training, interacting with students, providing technical support, and scholarly support as important characteristics and roles that a telementor should have

Augmented reality for computer assisted orthopaedic surgery

In recent years, computer-assistance and robotics have established their presence in operating theatres and found success in orthopaedic procedures. Benefits of computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) have been thoroughly explored in research, finding improvements in clinical outcomes, through increased control and precision over surgical actions. However, human-computer interaction in CAOS remains an evolving field, through emerging display technologies including augmented reality (AR) – a fused view of the real environment with virtual, computer-generated holograms. Interactions between clinicians and patient-specific data generated during CAOS are limited to basic 2D interactions on touchscreen monitors, potentially creating clutter and cognitive challenges in surgery. Work described in this thesis sought to explore the benefits of AR in CAOS through: an integration between commercially available AR and CAOS systems, creating a novel AR-centric surgical workflow to support various tasks of computer-assisted knee arthroplasty, and three pre–clinical studies exploring the impact of the new AR workflow on both existing and newly proposed quantitative and qualitative performance metrics. Early research focused on cloning the (2D) user-interface of an existing CAOS system onto a virtual AR screen and investigating any resulting impacts on usability and performance. An infrared-based registration system is also presented, describing a protocol for calibrating commercial AR headsets with optical trackers, calculating a spatial transformation between surgical and holographic coordinate frames. The main contribution of this thesis is a novel AR workflow designed to support computer-assisted patellofemoral arthroplasty. The reported workflow provided 3D in-situ holographic guidance for CAOS tasks including patient registration, pre-operative planning, and assisted-cutting. Pre-clinical experimental validation on a commercial system (NAVIO®, Smith & Nephew) for these contributions demonstrates encouraging early-stage results showing successful deployment of AR to CAOS systems, and promising indications that AR can enhance the clinician’s interactions in the future. The thesis concludes with a summary of achievements, corresponding limitations and future research opportunities.Open Acces

An evaluation of immersive virtual tours for curriculum innovation and engagement in higher education

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed unique pressures on higher education and exposed problems in remote delivery of captivating learning experiences into the future as the sector adapts to a post-pandemic “normal”. Field trips and facility visits have had to take a back seat during this period; as a result, the ability of academics to deliver object-based and visual-spatial learning was compromised. There is a lack of tested, approachable workflows for production of meaningful immersive tools that can temporarily replace and later augment in-person lessons. Virtual reality remains an unconvincing pedagogical tool, though low immersion flat-screen delivered virtual experiences are already considered pedagogically valuable. This thesis evaluates the use of low immersion virtual tours for higher education during the pandemic, primarily in the context of undergraduate biomedical science. A panoramic virtual tour of the Chau Chak Wing Museum was constructed in 3D Vista Virtual Tour Pro software and used to facilitate object-based for first year medical science students (n = 59). Structural equation modelling was used to discern technology acceptance. The tour was edited for a postgraduate business studies cohort and structural equation modelling was again conducted with a larger cohort (n = 163). Additionally, a virtual tour of the National Biocontainment K7b facility at Westmead Hospital was constructed for the purpose of remote education and familiarisation of staff and visitors. Lastly, technologies for creation and annotation/presentation of immersive three-dimensional anatomy and physiology models are assessed. We compare polygonal modelling, photogrammetry, and medical image segmentation in generation of geometry, and virtual tours, game engines and online tools for presentation of geometry. We found that virtual tours are a highly approachable, affordable, and adaptable solution for delivery of immersive learning experiences. Reception from students and academics alike was highly positive. Significant utility of virtually delivered object-based learning experiences is presented. Ultimately, we identify virtual tours as a means for provision of purposeful immersive learning that is complementary to in-person experiences. Innovation and implementation of virtual experiences will continue into the post-pandemic period, to facilitate useful “pre-work” tasks that maximise the benefit of in-person lessons

The student-produced electronic portfolio in craft education

The authors studied primary school students’ experiences of using an electronic portfolio in their craft education over four years. A stimulated recall interview was applied to collect user experiences and qualitative content analysis to analyse the collected data. The results indicate that the electronic portfolio was experienced as a multipurpose tool to support learning. It makes the learning process visible and in that way helps focus on and improves the quality of learning. © ISLS.Peer reviewe

Assessment of surgical performance

Surgical patient outcomes are related to technical and non-technical skills of the surgeon. Trauma patient operative and management experience has declined since trainee duty-hour restrictions were mandated in 2003 resulting in less experience in technical surgical skills. The Advanced Surgical Skills for Exposure in Trauma (ASSET) cadaver-based course, teaching vascular exposure and haemorrhage control, was developed to fill this training gap. The aim of this Thesis is to develop surgeon performance metrics and to test surgeons before and after taking the ASSET course to determine whether such training improves performance of peripheral vascular control. The importance of training in surgical vascular control in both civilian and military practice, and a description of current surgical training for trauma are described in Chapter 1. Reviews of existing trauma training courses and surgical performance metrics are provided in Chapters 2 and 3, and show limited testing of training courses and lack of trauma surgical performance metrics. Data collection methods, evaluator training and analysis are described in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 evaluates self-confidence of surgeons performing the vascular control procedures in cadavers compared to the performance evaluated by trained evaluators. Preliminary validation of vascular-control performance metrics and testing of a standardized script with item analysis and inter-rater reliability are discussed in Chapter 6. Testing 40 surgeons performing 3 extremity vascular control procedures before and after training is reported in Chapter 7. ASSET training improves performance, but large performance variability, repeated errors and no improvements were found in some surgeons. Chapter 8 reports how blind video analysis checklist, global rating metrics, error occurrence and recovery show convergent validity with co-located evaluators. Chapter 9 identifies the key findings and implications, innovation of the work described in the Thesis and concludes with the potential impact on military readiness and my personal reflection on what I learnt.  Open Acces

European Distance and E-Learning Network (EDEN). Conference Proceedings

Erasmus+ Programme of the European UnionThe powerful combination of the information age and the consequent disruption caused by these unstable environments provides the impetus to look afresh and identify new models and approaches for education (e.g. OERs, MOOCs, PLEs, Learning Analytics etc.). For learners this has taken a fantastic leap into aggregating, curating and co-curating and co-producing outside the boundaries of formal learning environments – the networked learner is sharing voluntarily and for free, spontaneously with billions of people.Supported by Erasmus+ Programme of the European Unioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Patient Safety and Quality: An Evidence-Based Handbook for Nurses

Compiles peer-reviewed research and literature reviews on issues regarding patient safety and quality of care, ranging from evidence-based practice, patient-centered care, and nurses' working conditions to critical opportunities and tools for improvement