Background: Lumbar puncture is an essential medical procedure whose objective is to obtain cerebrospinal fluid. Lumbar puncture is considered a complex procedure, mainly for novice residents who suffer from stress and low confidence, which may result in harm to the patient.
Methods: The LPVirSim, has been developed in four stages: i) requirements analysis through user-centred design; ii) prototyping of the virtual environment and the haptic component; iii) preliminary tests with Ph.D. students and physicians using two haptic devices (Omega.7 and Sigma.7); iv) a user study where physicians evaluated the usability and user experience.
Results: The LPVirSim integrates non-technical skills and the possibility of representing different patients for training. Usability increased from 61.76 to 68.75 in the preliminary tests to 71.43 in the user study.
Conclusions: All the results showed good usability and demonstrated that the simulator arouses interest and realistically represents a Lumbar puncture, through the force and visual feedback.
Keywords: haptic simulator; lumbar puncture; medical training; user experience; virtual simulator.
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