Formavenir, C2CARE and AP-HP revolutionize caregiver training with virtual reality and are finalists for the Sante Expo 2020 Innovation Awards

The union of 3 experts to give birth to Soignants Ré.V : modules of formation by simulation of the serious game type using the immersive capacity of virtual reality to work on the soft skills of caregivers in the management of pain or aggressiveness of their patients.

« Soignants Ré.V » begins with the will of the DMU Neurosciences of Kremlin Bicêtre to work on the attractiveness of their services, in particular by offering more attractive, more relevant training courses, building a professional identity in the field of health care that will enable them to retain their professionals. And his meeting with :

• The pedagogical expertise of a historical health training organization that accompanies the needs of health care organizations by using all the existing training options,
• The know-how of a start-up in the use of virtual reality in health and particularly in the exposure to stressful and anxiety-provoking situations.

From this meeting, 3 innovations were born :

• The use of virtual reality in a new way in training: beyond the good gestures and good practices, the immersion in a stressful work environment allows to work on the management of emotions and stress, while integrating the good practices of care taking. These modules have been designed to be used in trainer-led training sessions.
• Living lab partnership between France’s first university hospital, a historical organization in the sector and a start-up that has introduced virtual reality into healthcare ;
• Takes its cue from the field and the needs of service managers for the training of their caregivers :  the latter were mobilized in the identification of priorities, the choice of exposure and simulation situations and the drafting of scenarios. Each pedagogical scenario proposes dialogues and gestures to choose from, which lead to an improvement or a deterioration of the care, taken up in a debriefing accompanied by a trainer.

These three innovations are honored by Santexpo 2020 by naming “Soignants Ré.V” a finalist for their Innovation Trophy in the Human Resources category. 

Soignant Ré.V revolutionizes the training of caregivers 

The virtual reality training modules are serious games that immerse the learner in a room where a patient is waiting for treatment. The dialogue is multiple choice, each choice of answer (or gesture) influences the behavior, the attitude and the answers of the patient, and decides the next scenarios of care.

The heart of the innovation lies in the use of the immersive capacity of virtual reality to work on the management of emotions. Indeed, the patient expresses more or less strongly his annoyance or his pain. The learner must therefore ensure the right gestures and choose the right words in a stressful environment. This module allows him/her to learn how to manage his/her own stress, to recognize the possible triggers of his/her own aggressiveness and to manage his/her emotions in order to adopt an adequate posture for care.

A 3D scanner was used to scan a hospital room to create a highly realistic virtual environment. Actors played the different scenarios, allowing to retranscribe the tones, the attitudes, the behaviors and the gestures of anxious, painful or aggressive patients.

As for the pedagogical design, it is the use of the health simulation method that guided the design and writing of the pedagogical scenarios and debriefings. According to the recommendations of the HAS, three principles guided this design :

• The reflexive and positive relationship with errors: errors in the secure framework of the simulation can be used for debriefing ;
• Reiteration and training to anchor know-how and develop the “soft skills” necessary for the serene exercise of caregiving functions in the changing environments of healthcare institutions ;
• Ensuring the principle of “never the first time on the patient.

About the MISP Neurosciences : https://www.aphp.fr/service/service-01-010