FPE In The News: Purdue Student Wins Award
Posted September 08, 2023
Congratulations to Guoyang Zhou, a PhD student at the School of Industrial Engineering/School of Nursing/Envision Center, Purdue University for winning the 2023 Dieter W. Jahns Student Practitioner Award. Guoyang’s major professor is Dr. Denny Yu. The award will be presented to Guoyang during the 2023 Human Factors and Ergonomics Society meeting in Washington, DC. A second $1,000 check was sent to Professor Yu. Guoyang’s project, “Bringing Patient Mannequins to Life: 3D Projection Enhances Nursing Simulation” used a unique augmented reality (AR) 3D projection approach to improve simulation training outcomes for nurses.
Guoyang Zhou – winner of the 2023 Dieter W. Jahns Student Practitioner Award.
Nursing educators worldwide use simulation to train healthcare students, providing practical experience without risking actual patients. With registered nurses representing a significant portion of the healthcare workforce, improving simulation education for both educators and students is critical. Nursing simulations are used in patient care scenarios to improve clinical judgment, critical thinking, self-confidence, and clinical skills. Current high-fidelity simulation solutions have limitations, especially the static facial expressions on patient mannequins. Guoyang proposed an AR system using 3D projection technology to add dynamic animated facial expressions to patient mannequins. By capturing and projecting facial expressions onto the mannequin, the system aims to enhance the realism of the nursing simulation. Overall, the research objective was to design, refine, and test the usability of a novel AR 3D projection approach. This innovative technology can impact both nursing students and nursing educators by improving simulation training outcomes and addressing the limitations of current simulation-based training approaches.
Example Facial Expressions Captured and Projected by the System.
Using eye-tracking (gaze behavior) as a measure, it was found that the mannequin with dynamic facial expressions influenced student nurses’ visual attention and the students were found to be more fixated on the dynamic mannequin, implying that the dynamic facial expressions are critical sources of information. From the performance measures, the proposed system added some significant value by enhancing students' awareness of the patient's facial expressions and improving the capability of making a rapid and accurate decision.