CHSP’s Dr. Sherleena Buchman receives early career award for her work in VR and healthcar

by Noah Wright | May 13, 2021

Dr. Sherleena Buchman has been recognized for her groundbreaking work in VR and healthcare by the Midwest Nursing Research Society (MNRS). MNRS named Buchman as this year’s recipient of the Nursing Education RIG Early Career Award.

This early career award named Buchman as an “early investigator.” MNRS cited the local and national attention for the innovative work Buchman carried out by implementing CINE-VR, a type of VR that uses actual video, not animation, into her work on opioids and opioid overdose response.

“My team and I have three different VR videos that focus on different (aspects) of the opioid epidemic,” Buchman said. She says it was the scenario that requires students to treat an overdose in an Ohio University residence hall that caught the attention of MNRS.

This immersive experience puts you inside an Ohio University residence hall using real footage filmed by Buchman’s team.

“You go into the room as a person is found overdosed (in a residence hall). There are other people in the room calling 9-11, administering Narcan and talking to bystanders.” Buchman explained. This simulation allows students to gather near real-world experience of what an overdose looks and sounds like.

In addition to this scenario, she has also developed training simulations on an overdose in an Athens parking lot and a training simulation for long-term care nurses.

“What we’re seeing in healthcare is that patients who have substance abuse disorders are having long-term effects … and they’re being placed in long-term care facilities. Typically, long-term care facilities … don’t have specialized training into how to take care of patients addicted to opioids and other substances,” she said.

Her training simulation gives these healthcare workers valuable experience that can save lives. Some of these facilities may not even have Narcan, an overdose emergency treatment drug, in-house according to Buchman. Her training simulations are aiding nurses in the transition from caring for the elderly to care for those with substance abuse issues.

According to Buchman, the simulation itself in nursing is nothing new, but the use of CINE-VR is.

Traditionally, healthcare students are trained through mannequins and while they are realistic, nothing can compare to the real thing. Buchman’s CINE-VR training is one step closer to the real thing for her students.

“When we went to the VR conference, there was nobody else doing this. It’s not creating animation; we use real actors and real people. But what we’ve found with our research is it’s just as competent as any simulation.” Buchman said.

Moving forward, her team is moving on to larger studies to see where else this method of VR can be deployed. According to Buchman, this method of training seems to be the most impactful for her students. Her team is also applying this VR simulation to Parkinson's patients.

“We can make it real. It is a real person,” Buchman said. In the future, she hopes to implement haptics into the simulations to give participants the sense of touch along with the sights and sounds of treatment.

Buchman hopes to continue this award-winning work well into her career, and this award validates how much potential her work truly has.  

“For me, from Ohio University and rural Appalachia, it is a big honor to receive this award,” Buchman said.