Training scenario prototyping for VR-based simulation of neonatal decision-making

This paper presents the design and implementation of a real‐time system for virtual reality (VR)‐based training in neonatal medicine, with main emphasis on simple creation of various training scenarios. This system combines an articulated 3D model of a virtual newborn with text‐based descriptions of its physiological and behavioral responses, enabling medical experts to easily construct, simulate and revise an arbitrary postnatal critical situation. Afterwards, the resulting descriptions of newborn's behavior can be used for technical specifications (and even for automatic generation) of more complex behavioral models, such as finite‐state automata. © 2007 wiley Periodicals, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 15: 317–328, 2007; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com); DOI 10.1002/cae.20121