XRN - Lung Assessment
Project Type: VR Design & Development (APK)
Media: Unity, C#, VRTK, Oculus Integration, Pixologic ZBrush, Adobe Illustrator, Substance Painter
Final Presentation Format: Meta Quest headset
Team members & Roles:
Technical Director: Nicole Shepherd
Art Director: Mikaela Muersch
Game Designer: Nicole Barocas
This virtual reality simulation was designed for 1st year nursing students to support their learning of a head to toe assessment. In this particular simulation, users are taught how to perform a lung auscultation. Users are welcomed by Nurse Opal, the user’s preceptor who explains how to use the simulation tools before demonstrating how to properly auscultate a patient’s chest. The learning goal of finding proper anatomical landmarks for lung auscultation is taught and emphasized in this demonstration through Nurse Opal’s verbal explanation as well as visually through use of X-ray glasses and glowing guides on the chest. Users are taught to recognize normal lung sounds by playing breath sounds when the user demonstrates listening to the chest. Allowing users to view the internal anatomy makes it possible for certain sounds to be associated with different areas of the lungs.
As game designer, I researched the head to toe assessment, how lungs sounds are evaluated by nurses, and designed the initial premise of the game based on cognitive load and how this process is taught in real life. I wrote a detailed “script” of the game play which was revised based on feedback from my talented teammates. I assisted Mikaela in asset development by creating many of the furniture models as well as the internal anatomy model (lungs, ribcage, scapula).
