'We created a VR-Simulation application that could train paramedics in highly complex situations'

Alumnus Daan Tuinstra started a project during the second year of his bachelor Game Design Development (GDD) for Ambulance Zorg Groningen (AZG). AZG came to Hanze UAS with the need of a VR-simulation to train paramedics for highly complex situations such as driving accidents, shootings and collapsed buildings. Daan worked on this project for six years and now works for Creative Media & Game Technologies (CMGT) as a teacher/coach and researcher.

'Six years ago, Ambulance Zorg Groningen (AZG) came to Hanze UAS with the need to solve a problem regarding burn wound percentages assessed differently between paramedics and the burn wound centers. At a certain point the topic switched because of multiple reasons; one was that VR wasn’t suitable for this situation. They started shifting ideas into high complex situation. This started to larger project called VRAMBO.' 

'VRAMBO is and was a larger project that helped paramedics train for highly complex situations. You can think of situations with large numbers of victims: driving accidents, shootings, collapsed buildings, etc. The goal for the paramedics is to communicate with their partners and the alarm room during the situation while assessing victims and classifying (triage) them.' 

'Paramedics have a hard time training these specific situations because they are difficult and very costly to replicate. Therefore, together with student projects and the User-centered design lectorate we gathered all the information we needed to simulate such a situation.' 

'After I finished my bachelor, I worked full-time on this project and started working for the User-centered design lectorate and CMGT. My specific role was to develop the application together with my co-worker. My previous experience working on the project did help me understand what I needed to develop for the paramedics. We created a VR-Simulation application that could train paramedics in these highly complex situations.' 

'The current state of the project is that it is used by some paramedics companies to train, however it is still in early stages and it is unclear if they will continue to use it for the long term. We know that it works based on thorough testing, but it is up to the paramedics to take the next step and integrate it into their own training.' 

'With all the classes of Virtual Reality, I became somewhat of an expert in the field of VR. Nowadays, I spend most of my projects on VR development and give classes on it.'