Teaching binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy to novice residents using an augmented reality simulator

Abstract

Objective: To compare the traditional teaching approach of binocular indirect ophthalmoscopy (BIO) to the EyeSI augmented reality (AR) BIO simulator.

Design: Prospective randomized control trial.

Participants: 28 post-graduate year one (PGY1) ophthalmology residents.

Methods: Residents were recruited at the 2012 Toronto Ophthalmology Residents Introductory Course (TORIC). 15 were randomized to conventional teaching (Group 1), and 13 to augmented reality simulator training (Group 2). 3 vitreoretinal fellows were enrolled to serve as experts. Evaluations were completed on the simulator, with 3 tasks, and outcome measures were total raw score, total time elapsed, and performance.

Results: Following conventional training, Group 1 residents were outperformed by vitreoretinal fellows with respect to all 3 outcome measures. Following AR training, Group 2 residents demonstrated superior total scores and performance compared to Group 1 residents. Once the Group 1 residents also completed the AR BIO training, there was a significant improvement compared to their baseline scores, and were now on par with Group 2 residents.

Conclusions: This study provides construct validity for the EyeSI AR BIO simulator and demonstrates that it may be superior to conventional BIO teaching for novice ophthalmology residents.