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Interest sparked in\n360-degree video for learning<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Since 2017, Leicester Medical School has been experimenting with 360-degree\nvideo for learning. Following the first live-streamed medical surgical\noperation done by Dr Shafi Ahmed (McGoogan and Murgia, 2016), medical students\u2019 interest was ignited. Leicester Medical School\u2019s\nstudent society MedRIFT (Medical Research into Future Technology), which I\nfounded and oversee, decided to pursue this interest and find out how to\nmaximise the affordances of 360-degree video for undergraduate medical\neducation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Leicester Medical School first acquired its 360-degree video\ncamera, an Omni Go Pro, the first idea was to capture live a surgical\nprocedure, similar to what Dr Shafi Ahmed had done. In this use of the\ntechnology, the actions of nurses, operating department practitioners, and\ndoctors, as well as all of the instruments and screens, are picked up on the\ncamera, and all sound too. Students can learn from everything in the\nenvironment of the procedure before they are qualified enough to get that close\nto the action, acclimating them to aspects of the environment and human factors\nof surgery as well as demonstration of the procedure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Rationale to create\n360-degree videos of ward rounds<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Filming surgical procedures was proving difficult in terms of getting\npermissions from everyone involved. We found that the patients were\nsurprisingly willing, but not all the staff were, and it was hard to find time\nand situation to discuss this in advance and secure informed consent. So the\nstudents brainstormed other aspects of medical knowledge which could be helped\nby 360 video. They came up with the idea of filming ward rounds, in which the\ndoctor visits the different patients on the ward, checking on them and administering\nand adjusting treatment as needed. Doctors teach medical students who join them\non the round and teach them to document the patient\u2019s case. But students often\nfeel unsure of what to expect on ward rounds when they are just beginning\nclinical study. Anything can happen during a ward round, and doctors must deal\nwith demands coming from all directions; hence students must learn this too. It\nwas felt that the 360-degree camera would capture this aspect of demands coming\nfrom all directions and help acclimate students into the still-unfamiliar\ndomain of clinical knowledge and practice, as in a model of domain learning (Alexander, 2003).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Initial research<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n When the Digital\nInnovation Partnership<\/a> (DIP) scheme was launched by Leicester\nLearning Institute<\/a> we saw our opportunity for supported research.\nThe DIP scheme encourages staff and students to work together to trial learning\ninnovations enabled by digital tools. We devised research to examine learning\nwith 360-degree video, specifically learning to feel confident on the round, to\ndocument correctly, and to treat all patients and family members\nempathetically. The scenarios were actual events experienced by one of our\nteaching doctors. They were acted by members of a University of Leicester drama\nsociety and filmed with a 360-degree camera in the teaching area of the\nLeicester Royal Infirmary. Using actors to simulate the ward round solved the\nconsent problem, and student actors brought a fresh energy to the project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the research, one group of students watched 360 video ward round scenarios using Google Cardboard devices. Another group learned about ward rounds by reading PowerPoint presentations, and a third group received no ward round information. All students were then sent into a live ward round situation simulated by actors. The participants were given the task of documenting patients in the live simulation, and then completing a survey which examined their confidence to face the real ward round, their level of empathy for the patients, and their impressions of how engaging the teaching material was. We then evaluated the documentation for accuracy, and also compared survey responses to responses to baseline surveys given before the intervention began. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Our research showed that all participating students found the 360 videos to be an engaging way to learn, especially when compared with more traditional methods like PowerPoint slides. 75% of participants felt that learning from the videos helped them to consider how they could show empathy. \u00a0Watching these videos were not seen as helpful to learn to document correctly, however. Because of this finding, the students decided to add into the 360 videos some further text which helps to \u2018signal\u2019 what they need to be noticing and learning about documenting, during that point in the scenario. This video is below. (Note: this is a realistic scenario of a patient at end of life.) You can experience the 360-degree view by dragging the image while the video is playing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n