Development of patient simulation system: Investigation of patient robot

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of basic functions as to appearance, expression, movement, etc. in the simulation patient robot (NDU-2) linked with the patient's sensation during training of oral examination. Methods: Twenty doctors were asked to perform oral examination using NDU-2 and answer the questionnaires immediately after finished it. The operator of NDU-2 maneuvered the voice and movement functions so as to respond to the talking and the procedure of the dentists during oral examinations. The questionnaires were filled out anonymously, and they consisted of 5 answers choice to each question and free description columns concerning the comparison with conventional training phantom, each function of NDU-2, etc. Results: The 95% of respondents gave good answers regarding the comparison to conventional phantom, and the 90% felt well regarding the effectiveness of training using NDU-2. Therefore high level function and specification of NDU-2 were proved. On the other hand the positive answers concerning the resemblance to actual therapies were limited to the 50%. The major reason for them was stiffness of the materials at oral and buccal mucosa. Additionally, the differences between the intraoral structure of NDU-2 and actual anatomy were complained about. The 65% of respondents felt advantages of talking to patients because of the elaborate appearance like an actual human and installed voice function. Conclusion: It was proved that the efficacy of fundamental functions and specifications of NDU-2 was sufficient to use for simulation training, and it provided useful advantages for trainees. However, some problems were made clear. Improving these problems and incorporating the designed function of treatment scenario and feedback system would make NDU-2 higher performance simulation system linked with the patient's sensation. (This study depends upon the grant in 2007 by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology in Japanese government.)