Working under fire

Report by Robert Jaques 17 October 2006 published here

Military student medic were required to perform a thoracostomy (insertion of a tube into the chest cavity to permit fluid to drain) under virtual reality battle conditions.

Interesting findings
* The students' completion times showed that they could perform the surgery efficiently, but that the quality of their work suffered.
* Those who performed the procedure faster were more susceptible to the virtual sniper fire.
* The stress created by the simulated environment may have caused some students to engage in inappropriate and dangerous behaviour that would be likely to result in their being killed in a real combat situation.

Not sure how this would translate into a business setting, but I can imagine that during a major incident people are likely to act differently. We rarely get the chance to give our staff the opportunity to see what it will be like, and have no real idea of how they will react.

Andy Brazier