The potential impact of 3d telepresence technology on task performance in emergency trauma care

  • Authors:
  • Hanna M. Söderholm;Diane H. Sonnenwald;Bruce Cairns;James E. Manning;Greg F. Welch;Henry Fuchs

  • Affiliations:
  • Göteborg University and University College of Borås, Borås, Sweden;Göteborg University and University College of Borås, Borås, Sweden;University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC;University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC;University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC;University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC

  • Venue:
  • Proceedings of the 2007 international ACM conference on Supporting group work
  • Year:
  • 2007

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Abstract

Emergency trauma is a major health problem worldwide. To evaluate the potential of emerging 3D telepresence technology for facilitating paramedic - physician collaboration while providing emergency medical trauma care we conducted a between-subjects post-test experimental lab study. During a simulated emergency situation 60 paramedics diagnosed and treated a trauma victim while working alone or in collaboration with a physician via 2D video or a 3D proxy. Analysis of paramedics' task performance shows that the fewest harmful procedures occurred in the 3D proxy condition. Paramedics in the 3D proxy condition also reported higher levels of self-efficacy. These results indicate 3D telepresence technology has potential to improve paramedics' performance of complex emergency medical tasks and improve emergency trauma health care when designed appropriately.