Study shows the Wearable Auscultation Trainer developed through a collaboration between Realityworks, Inc. and Innovative Design Labs Inc. offers a promising teaching-learning alternative that promotes privacy and reduces embarrassment.

EAU CLAIRE, WI, July 21, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ — Realityworks, Inc., a leader in experiential learning solutions, is proud to announce findings that its Wearable Auscultation Trainer enhances training medical examination skills. The University of Minnesota (UMN) study results were recently published in the international, peer-reviewed journal “Clinical Simulation in Nursing,” volume 81.

The study, titled “Development and Evaluation of a Wearable Simulator System,” aimed to determine whether a wearable simulator vest constructed with RFID tags and ribcage landmarks, helped minimize ethical and learning challenges during auscultation and palpation practice scenarios between students. The simulator used in the study was the Realityworks’ Wearable Auscultation Simulator.

The results of the study demonstrated that the Wearable Auscultation Simulator not only helps students learn to accurately identify and interpret various heart and lung sounds, but offers a technologically advanced option for providing repeatable, diverse, and realistic learning opportunities with scenario-specific auscultation and palpation feedback. What is more, over 80% of student participants and 90-100% of faculty participants agreed or strongly agreed that the system promoted privacy and reduced embarrassment.

“We’re thrilled that the value of our Wearable Auscultation Simulator was confirmed by this research study,” said Realityworks Health Science Education Product Manager Molly Kellgren, PhD, RN. “Our gut instincts were that wearable simulators provide the best of both worlds: the flexibility of programmable simulators with the realism of standardized patients. Now we have data to support that.”

Realityworks’ auscultation trainers were awarded Gold in the 2022 Better Future New York Design Awards for its creative and innovative design. They are part of a line of differentiated training tools for health science programs, including nursing, medical assisting, sports medicine, and emergency medical services. For more information on Realityworks’ health science products, visit www.realityworks.com.

This effort was funded by a Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) Interactive Digital Media (IDM) award (R44GM13772) to Realityworks, Inc and Innovative Design Labs, Inc from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). For more information on the study, please visit Development and Evaluation of a Wearable Simulator System – Clinical Simulation In Nursing (nursingsimulation.org)


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