MACDILL AIR FORCE BASE, Fla.  –   The 6th Medical Group Education and Training Flight was recently selected as the 6th MDG’s ‘Team of the Quarter’ for April 1 - June 30, 2021.

This team is the definition of healthcare innovation and was selected to collaborate with the Defense Health Agency, AUGMED Inc. and Optimus Inc., to field the first Department of Defense combined augmented reality with manikin-based simulation.

This partnership will allow the DoD to pilot training that has the potential to expand capabilities across physical and virtual environments.

Manikin-based training is currently the mainstay of military medical readiness training, however, the COVID-19 pandemic revealed some limitations to large-scale in-person training during times of social distancing.

The introduction of augmented reality training increases the availability of training, without a need to increase manpower availability for training setup and multiple student face-to-face interaction.

Further, the application of augmented reality utilizing a manikin provides a complementary and flexible opportunity for military medical readiness in several projected scenarios.

Augmented reality can also be used alone with feedback provided by the system, or in combination with in-person instructors to provide feedback from both training systems.

The additional benefits to the augmented reality application in military medical readiness training is increased mobility, minimal setup and wireless connectivity that can be used in the field.

Augmented reality and manikin-based training can be used independently in training, but are best when applied in synergy to provide a holistic training experience.

The innovative partnership between the 6th MDG Education and Training Flight with the DHA, AUGMED Inc. and Optimus Inc. will accelerate the development and delivery of the final integrated mixed reality and simulation based training platforms for military medical readiness training.