London’s Middlesex University has announced its new investment into AI technology as a new teaching tool for nursing students. The institution has bought five VR headsets that will help students practice treating patients in interactive scenarios and receive automatic feedback on their work. The 20 scenarios that they will have access to through the technology look at patients with diabetes, COPD and sepsis.

Such technology will be a particularly useful tool for students to learn how to deliver fast and effective Sepsis care. According to the Sepsis Trust, around 210,000 patients are estimated to develop sepsis annually in England, with a mortality rate of over 20%. “Sepsis is one of the key scenarios because it is a time critical condition. You have an hour to ensure that the diagnosis is made and ensure prescribed antibiotics are administered immediately, as every hour delay increases the patient’s mortality rate by 8%,” said Sarah Chitongo, midwifery lecturer at Middlesex University.

Over 30 organisations in the UK are said to be using the Oxford Medical Simulation’s platform. This highlights that an increasing amount of healthcare professionals are turning to VR-AR technologies in order to transform patient care.