Institute for Learning, Education and Development (ILEAD)

Delirium is a serious change in mental abilities. It results in confused thinking and a lack of awareness of someone's surroundings. The VRSDE iOS application simulates the signs and symptoms of a patient with delirium.

In November, the Veteran Health Administration’s (VHA)’s Institute for Learning, Education and Development (ILEAD) announced that two ILEAD training modules would be featured at non-government training conferences and compete for international recognition. ILEAD provides a wide variety of professional development, education and training tools that give staff what they need to provide Veterans the best care available, and its game-based learning immersive product, Virtual Reality Simulated Delirium Environment (VRSDE) for Geriatrics and Extended Care, came away with both the Innovation and People’s Choice Awards at the Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation and Education Conference (I/ITSEC). The conference was held Nov. 28-Dec. 2 in Orlando, Florida.

I/ITSEC is the world’s largest modeling, simulation and training event. Held near the beginning of December in Orlando, I/ITSEC consists of peer-reviewed paper presentations, tutorials, special events, professional workshops, commercial exhibit hall, serious games competition and STEM events for teachers and secondary students.

Delirium is a serious change in mental abilities. It results in confused thinking and a lack of awareness of someone's surroundings. The VRSDE iOS application simulates the signs and symptoms of a patient with delirium. The training audience consists of physicians and allied health professionals who provide elder care and emergency care for Veterans experiencing delirium. This firsthand virtual (visual, audial and haptic) delirium experience is designed to engender empathy in health care professionals and provide experiential learning in the treatment of delirium.

Al Maldonado, project manager and representative on ILEAD’s I/ITSEC team, said, “We had several attendees come by during the week-long conference, including the spouse of a Veteran who is also his caregiver. She outlined, clearly, during her experience with the VR Delirium environment, that she can see this training experience helping caregivers who have spouses with this condition. She also stated how other medical conditions should be considered for this type of training modality.” 

Next for the VRSDE training module, as well as the STROKE-Keep the Brain Alive in 45 for the Neurology and National Telestroke Program (NTSP) immersive learning product will be the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH 2023) Jan. 21-25 in Orlando, where both products will be featured and compete for recognition.

For both training modules, learners will experience real-world clinical environments in real time on their PC, iPad or iPhone application, and will receive continuing medical education credits in a variety of accreditations.