Mixed Reality Simulation for Medical Training: How It Affects Learners' Cognitive State

A mixed reality (MR) system, by providing visual, auditory, and haptic feedback to the learner, can offer a high level of immersion and realism, especially in the healthcare context. In medical training through MR simulations, it is particularly important to avoid mental overload, discomfort, fatigue, and stress, to guarantee productive learning. The present work proposes a systematic assessment of stress, cognitive load, and performance (through subjective and objective measures) of students during an MR simulation for the rachicentesis procedure. A specific application has been developed to enhance the sense of realism, by showing, over the skill trainer, a digital patient that responds with auditory and visual feedback, based on the learner’s interaction. A sample of 18 students has been enrolled in the pilot study. Preliminary results suggest the effectiveness of the proposed MR application using Hololens: high performances are achieved, and the cognitive conditions are well balanced