Heat Casualty

This project teaches medical trainees about the process of responding to, identifying, and treating victims of heat casualties at the Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas. The program was designed for recruits at PACER FORGE to use during Basic Military Training as supplemental training in heat casualty procedures.

Outcomes and Additional Information

• Training in hot climates, such as the Joint Base in San Antonio-Lackland, TX, can result in heat casualties (dehydration, heat exhaustion, heat stroke/hyperthermia). This is an issue if there are not enough medical responders during large exercises.

• The team was challenged to create an an immersive training simulation for response procedures, focusing on heat casualty response procedures. Users must complete the steps correctly, including interacting with virtual equipment. Incorrect actions are correct using text prompts, allowing for quick guidance and after-action review. 

• The virtual environment replicates interior and exterior areas as users move affected persons from the hot outdoors to a building for intervention.

• Users must interact with virtual patients with adaptive symptoms of different heat casualty types. Patients must be diagnosed quickly, requiring the user to interact with the patient and choose appropriate equipment.

• Users of this simulation are able to customize their experience by choosing between VR and desktop, varying game types, patient locations, patient severities, and assistance modes. The user’s performance and actions are tracked and logged during their training. 

• Future work will include multiplayer roles, response to multiple patients, additional equipment, and additional maps and bases to choose from.