A Virtual Reality Haptic Robotic Simulator for Central Venous Catheterization Training¹

Central venous catheterization (CVC) is a medical procedure performed over five million times a year in the U.S., which allows doctors to deliver medication, nutrition, and take measurements not possible through noninvasive means. During this procedure, a catheter is inserted through the skin into the internal jugular vein (IJ), subclavian vein, or femoral vein with the tip placed near the heart. Unfortunately, some CVC patients experience adverse effects, including pneumothorax, hematoma, hemothorax, accidental arterial puncture, and thrombosis [1]. Currently, medical residents are trained in CVC using mannequin patient simulators, and the concept of “see one, do many, do one competently, and teach everyone” is wide spread [2]. Virtual reality simulators like the Mediseus Epidural simulator have shown great potential as medical training tools by allowing the unique possibility of exposing trainees to a much wider variety of medical scenarios than static patient simulators [3]....