Investigating the Effects of Selective Information Presentation in Intensive Care Units Using Virtual Reality

Theelke L, Metzler FL, Kreimeier J, Hauer C, Binder J, Roth D (2023)

Publication Language: English

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2023

Publisher: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.

Pages Range: 195-204

Conference Proceedings Title: 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR)

Event location: Sydney, NSW AU

ISBN: 979-8-3503-2839-4

DOI: 10.1109/ISMAR59233.2023.00034

Abstract

Medical personnel working in intensive care units (ICUs) are continuously exposed to a multitude of alarms emanating from various monitoring devices, such as cardiac monitors, ventilators, or infusion pumps. The sheer volume of alarms, coupled with high false positive rates, can lead to alarm fatigue. This phenomenon compromises patient safety and places an additional burden on nurses who must diligently prioritize and respond to alarms in the highly dynamic environment. While the testing of stress-reducing strategies in a real ICU is challenging, virtual reality (VR) represents a powerful tool and methodology to simulate an ICU environment and test optimization scenarios for alarm display strategies. For example, redistributing alarms to responsible individuals (personalized information presentation) has been proposed as a solution, but testing in real ICU environments is not applicable due to critical patient safety. In this paper, we present a VR simulation of an ICU to simulate comparable stress situations, as well as to assess the impact of a selective and personalized alarm representation strategy in an evaluation study in two conditions. A stress condition mirrors the current ubiquitous audible alarm distribution in most ICUs, where alarms are heard non-patient-specific throughout the ward. In an experimental condition, alarms are filtered patient-specific to reduce information overload and noise pollution. Our user study with medical personnel and novices shows that stress levels can be simulated with our system as indicated by physiological responses. Further, we show that the perceived task load can be reduced with selective information presentation. We discuss the potential benefits of ICU simulations as a methodology and personalized alarm distribution as a first potential strategy for future technologies in ICUs.

Authors with CRIS profile

Luisa Theelke Juniorprofessur für Human-Centered Computing and Extended Reality Fynn-Lennardt Metzler Juniorprofessur für Human-Centered Computing and Extended Reality Julian Kreimeier Juniorprofessur für Human-Centered Computing and Extended Reality Johannes Binder Department of Surgery

Involved external institutions

Technische Universität München (TUM) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Theelke, L., Metzler, F.-L., Kreimeier, J., Hauer, C., Binder, J., & Roth, D. (2023). Investigating the Effects of Selective Information Presentation in Intensive Care Units Using Virtual Reality. In Gerd Bruder, Anne-Helene Olivier, Andrew Cunningham, Evan Yifan Peng, Jens Grubert, Ian Williams (Eds.), 2023 IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR) (pp. 195-204). Sydney, NSW, AU: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc..

MLA:

Theelke, Luisa, et al. "Investigating the Effects of Selective Information Presentation in Intensive Care Units Using Virtual Reality." Proceedings of the 22nd IEEE International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, ISMAR 2023, Sydney, NSW Ed. Gerd Bruder, Anne-Helene Olivier, Andrew Cunningham, Evan Yifan Peng, Jens Grubert, Ian Williams, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc., 2023. 195-204.

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