Mr Dung Trung Bui1, Associate Professor Tony Barnett1, Dr. Ha Hoang1, Dr. Winyu Chinthammit2
1Centre For Rural Health, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Australia, 2Human Interface Technology Laboratory Australia, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Australia
Background: During a healthcare procedure, tele-mentoring can provide instructions from an expert at a remote to a local, less-experienced practitioner in real-time. Augmented Reality (AR) is expected to enhance the efficacy of tele-mentoring by overlaying computer-generated three-dimensional content created by the expert and displayed for the practitioner to use a head-mounted or similar device. Several AR tele-mentoring prototypes have been developed and trialled worldwide, but the evidence on their effectiveness is still fragmented and unclear.
Aim: To identify how tele-mentoring systems that incorporate AR technology are being used in healthcare environments
Methods: Twelve electronic bibliographic databases were searched using the keywords: “Augmented Reality”, “Tele-mentoring”, and “Health”. The PRISMA checklist was used as a guide for reporting this review. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool was used to assess the quality of the studies selected. The data were analysed according to the concept-centric approach and categorised primarily with regards to system performance and task performance measures.
Results: Twenty-five experiments were included for review comprising 11 randomized controlled trials and 14 non-randomized designs. Both mentees and mentors assessed the system performance and task performance according to 24 categories.
Discussion: The overall feedback of trainees using AR devices was generally positive. AR technology has been used effectively in tele-mentoring activities. Benefits of AR tele-mentoring systems in healthcare environments included improvements in trainees’ confidence, task completion time, task accuracy, and reductions in task errors, and focus shifts. Study limitations included low sample size, lack of statistical power, and absence of real-world scenarios in study design.
Biography:
Dung Trung Bui is a third-year PhD candidate at the Centre for Rural Health, University of Tasmania. His PhD thesis relates to the application of Augmented Reality technology to enhance the remote assistance of healthcare workers in rural and remote areas in Australia.
He completed the Doctor of Medicine degree at Hanoi Medical University in 2005 and the Master of Public Health at the Queensland University of Technology in 2017. His passion for medical education and technologies has led him from a clinical medical practitioner to a Continuing Medical Education (CME) manager since 2007 and then motivated him to undertake the current PhD project.
In Vietnam, he has worked in Bach Mai hospital, a national leading governmental hospital, with an extensive network of training units of provincial general and specialist hospitals nationwide regarding practical skill training programs to enhance the professional capacities of medical staff there.
He is interested in many aspects of public health, particularly in medical training and education, applied technologies in medicine, hospital management and oral care. He has a number of publications written in English and Vietnamese in Tele-mentorship, e-Learning, oral care, healthcare leadership, Augmented Reality technology, and machine learning technique.
His ORCID is 0000-0002-9907-8240.