Design and Development of Virtual Patients

This paper discusses the design and prototypical implementation of virtual patients to train paramedics in disaster operations. These virtual patients are presented on a multi-touch table top. The current approach focuses on disaster triage according to the mSTaRT triage algorithm. In order to enhance disaster preparedness continuous training of all paramedics is indispensable. Due to the fact that large disaster control exercises are laborious and expensive, training on a small scale makes sense. The presented approach includes gesture based interactions to simulate the patients as realistically as possible. This more intuitive interaction results in a more realistic simulation of the patient and a better preparation for the real situation.