Can eye-tracking technology improve situational awareness and student feedback during simulation?

This seed project aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of eye-tracking technology for improving feedback and situation awareness in nursing and paramedic students. The management of deteriorating patients is known to be poor and is well documented in the ‘failure to rescue’ literature. Non-technical skills such as decision making and situation awareness are essential for patient safety, but are rarely taught in undergraduate curricula. In a simulated setting, this project used an innovative combination of techniques: namely video recording and eye tracking in order to understand and inform participants’ responses to an acutely deteriorating patient.;