AirwayVR: Virtual reality trainer for endotracheal intubation-design considerations and challenges

Endotracheal Intubation is a lifesaving procedure in which a tube is passed through the mouth into the trachea (windpipe) to maintain an open airway and facilitate artificial respiration. It is a complex psychomotor skill, which requires significant training and experience to prevent complications. The current methods of training, including manikins and cadaver, have limitations in terms of their availability for early medical professionals to learn and practice. These training options also have limitations in terms of presenting high risk/ difficult intubation cases for experts to mentally plan their approach in high-risk scenarios prior to the procedure. In this paper, we present the design considerations and challenges of AirwayVR: Virtual reality-based simulation trainer for intubation training for two different target audience (medical professionals) with two different objectives. The first one is to use AirwayVR as an introductory platform to learn and practice intubation in virtual reality for novice learners (Medical students and residents). The second objective is to utilize this technology as a Just-in-time training platform for experts to mentally prepare for a complex case prior to the procedure.