[Tim Robertson]

Thanks for starting this discussion Ruth. I hope that you will get some good responses soon.

[Paul Camidge]

Hi Ruth,

This idea has been kicking round for ages with lots of great ideas but limited actions in most of the larger medical companies.

The pandemic has certainly changed attitudes and most are now working on “remote” training for biomed engineers with the ultimate goal of some form of VR. I know of two major manufacturers who have partnered with software companies to make this a reality.

You can see the benefits for the company. Flying trainers or trainees round the world is expensive and has got more so since travel restarted. With the squeeze of budgets the ability to deliver remote training is a massive benefit.

There is also the quality aspect. Most companies use a “train the trainer” model, where the main trainer will train others who in turn travel back to their region and perform the training. There is always the fear within that with each stage the training gets diluted and not as good. If overall a manufacturer could be held liable for the training they delivered, the ability to point to what it was and the quality is highly regarded.

The flip side, is that as engineers we are often dubious of remote training and prefer a class room environment. The big question is how will the next generation feel? These are the engineers who have grown up getting so much from a remote platform (how many of us use something like YouTube to show us how to do something from learn to play the guitar to unblock a sink)… Will they be happy with remote learning and lead the push to VR?

Personally, this is one of those ideas which has so much to offer its impossible not to be engaged by it. We certainly are!

Time will tell…..

[Nick Krayst]

Using VR is a good idea, but unfortunately it is difficult to implement it, due to the shortage of quality personnel among IT project managers and virtual reality designers raised from juniors of programming over the years. Educational IT industry and the gaming industry are different things. The quality of knowledge of incoming youth in different countries has fallen very much, there is no fire in the eyes that was before.