OBJECTIVE: To assess physician acceptance of a Virtual Reality Brain Death Determination Tool (VRBDDT) as an educational modality and its impact on physician knowledge and confidence in brain death determination and communication with patient families. DESIGN: Prospective pilot study using surveys administered pretraining and post-training. SETTING: One hundred twenty-six acute care hospitals within the Gift of Life Donor Program’s Donor Service Area. SUBJECTS: Physicians responsible for performing brain death determination. INTERVENTIONS: Participants completed a novel, virtual reality-based training program consisting of eLearning modules integrated with virtual reality simulations of brain death determination procedures and family communication. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: Of 142 enrolled participants, 69 completed both pretraining and post-training assessments consisting of a 14-item questionnaire. Median scores significantly improved from 73.2% pretraining to 91.1% post-training ( p < 0.001). Participants demonstrated the largest improvements in knowledge about clinical examination procedures and family communication skills. Self-reported confidence significantly increased post-training, with high satisfaction and acceptance ratings reported by participants. CONCLUSIONS: The VRBDDT was accepted by physicians and significantly enhanced knowledge and confidence related to brain death determination and family communication.
Ehntholt et al. (Mon,) studied this question.