Proposal

Narrative

The College of Medicine proposes the addition of a medical virtual reality (VR) lab. This addition would not only afford Florida Atlantic University the opportunity to “harness innovation to drive educational excellence” (Strategic Plan, 2018-2023), but would also place Florida Atlantic University at the forefront of a budding technology revolution in conjunction with institutions, such as University of Southern California, University of California (San Francisco), New York University, Kaiser Permanente, University of Central Florida, Western University, and others. While relatively new technology, the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) agrees that virtual reality has the potential to become the next great innovation to medical education. Virtual reality applications are able to provide quality, standardized, immersive, and impactful experiences to students within a psychologically safe environment. In fact, substantial research indicates the effectiveness of using virtual reality applications to enhance experiential learning* and simulate immersive scenarios, hence invoking genuine responses within an artificial/safe environment *. This theory applies not only to experiential applications, such as our proposed empathy trainer, but also to manipulation-centered applications, such as our proposed anatomy application This technology proposal has the potential to reach over 2,600 studying healthcare professionals within the College of Medicine, College of Nursing, and School of Social Work, and undergraduate students who take courses such as biology and anatomy. The Schmidt College of Medicine is also the perfect campus location for such a resource because of its new Library and Technology Resource Center. This space is open to the public and would be supported by the College of Medicine Educational Technology and IT Teams, who would be able to guide any FAU student through virtual reality experiences. *Sources cited in supporting documents

Facilities

This proposal will use existing spaces in building 71. No renovations are required.

Hardware Requirements

9 Oculus Rift Virtual Reality headset bundles, 9 VR-optimized computers [Dell Precision Laptops]

Software Requirements

Empathy Training: Embodied Labs Medical Knowledge: 3d Organon (Anatomy)

Personnel Costs

No additional personnel costs

Other Costs

None

Timeline

Hardware/software purchases immediately. 3-4 Months following hardware/software purchases to have the lab up and running

Sustainability

College of Medicine would maintain/replace hardware as needed from existing budget resources. Additional software resources would be purchases as needed (based on available funds)

Resource Matching

None

Implementing Organization

College of Medicine IT