Expert Q&A: OneLab—Pathology Meets Virtual Reality

For years, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has explored the area of virtual reality (VR) laboratory training to assess its use in helping laboratory learners gain knowledge.¹ Following a multi-year pilot project testing a CDC VR training course, as part of their OneLab initiative, the CDC unveiled their next foray into this area: OneLab VR.²

What is OneLab VR, how was it developed, and what are the benefits of this technology for the clinical lab now, and moving forwards? We spoke with Joe Rothschild, lead of the Virtual Reality Training Team in the CDC’s Training and Workforce Development Branch, to learn more.

Q: Could you introduce us to OneLab VR?

A: OneLab VR is part of CDC OneLab™, an initiative that works to connect, educate, and strengthen a network of laboratory professionals and testers, as our community supports rapid, large-scale public health emergency responses.³ CDC developed OneLab in 2021 to unite clinical and public health laboratory professionals and the testing community to improve training for public health emergencies. The program aims to build capacity and establish a sustainable learning community that equips the laboratory workforce and testing community with the essential tools and resources to improve public health and patient outcomes.

OneLab VR, a virtual training environment, is an investment in virtual training development, which can strengthen the US laboratory system and improve patient care and public health outcomes nationwide.⁴ It helps fill the gap between classroom and hands-on education needed to train new and existing members of the laboratory workforce. CDC has also partnered with the Association of Public Health Laboratories to provide VR training equipment to a limited number of clinical, public health, and academic laboratories.

Q: What inspired OneLab VR and how did you develop it?

A: To increase and improve laboratory testing capabilities, CDC was looking for something that could bridge the gap between knowledge-building e-learning and hands-on education. Laboratory partners were looking for less costly ways to train lab professionals without using actual lab spaces or exposing staff to real chemicals or biological agents. They were also looking for ways to avoid displacing critical laboratory testing while training sessions were being held. In 2019, CDC launched a three-year pilot project to develop and test VR laboratory training. This showed that VR training could be an effective training modality to improve learners’ confidence and teach laboratory skills. Pilot testers left the VR training course with laboratory skills—or strong foundations for them—while keeping the convenience of e-learning intact.

CDC worked with laboratory architects, designers, safety experts, and members of the clinical laboratory community to create a 50,000-square-foot virtual training space. All aspects, from the physical size and placement of the laboratory environments to the locations of fire alarms and sprinkler systems, have been researched, tested, reviewed, and replicated in the virtual laboratories. Laboratory trainers and learners will find over 100 (and counting) custom-built pieces of laboratory equipment in this virtual facility that they can practice using in the OneLab VR laboratories.

Q: Did you encounter any unexpected challenges or obstacles in development?

A: Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the virtual reality team was focused on developing content for tethered headsets that used a separate computer to run the training. These headsets allow for more detail and special effects. However, during COVID-19, we decided to move from the more powerful—and more expensive—tethered headset to a more user-friendly platform. Doing this required the team to rebuild our application to conform to the OpenXR format so they can run on any OpenXR-conformant headset instead of designing for one specific brand. We had to slim down the level of detail in our VR environments and be very discerning about how we built our training because it is now powered by a headset alone, rather than by a headset tethered to a computer with higher processing power and better graphics.

Q: What advice would you give to laboratory professionals considering educational VR?

A: It’s an opportunity for laboratory staff to increase their skills; it’s also an opportunity for laboratory trainers to train their staff in a safe and cost-effective manner. OneLab VR includes several three- to five-minute VR training scenarios designed to quickly familiarize learners with laboratory hardware, safety, and task-specific procedures.

If learners are visiting OneLab VR for the first time and aren’t familiar with virtual environments, they can start with a tutorial that shows them how to move around in the environment, how to pick things up, how to operate equipment, how to use the wrist menu, and so on.

Many laboratory professionals have very little time for training. The five- to 10-minute training scenarios can reinforce knowledge they already have and allow them to practice skillsets that they may not use daily. Laboratory trainers can also use educational VR with new staff, interns, and prospective job-seekers. The next generation of laboratory professionals will expect training that doesn’t consist of a 200-page slide deck with a test at the end.

Q: How do you envisage the future of your VR work?

A: As technology advances and equipment changes, CDC will continue to innovate and adapt to the needs of our clinical and public health laboratory audience. New training scenarios will be added to this all-encompassing virtual environment. We will continue to work with clinical and public health laboratory partners to determine which topics are most needed by our target audience; we also look to our CDC subject matter experts and colleagues in the Division of Laboratory Systems to determine which training sessions to develop. We plan to release at least one scenario each quarter.

Although we don’t know how VR is going to evolve, we are focused on discovering effective solutions to training clinical and public health laboratory professionals. This includes finding ways to provide real-time feedback about how to work with laboratory equipment and perform laboratory procedures safely and effectively. Our goal is to create training tools that help lab professionals become safer and better at their jobs than they were yesterday—and to make these training tools easy to access.

References:

1. 1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Virtual Reality Laboratory Training. March 5, 2024. https://www.cdc.gov/labtraining/VR.html.

1. 1. American Society for Clinical Pathology. ASCP 2023 Features CDC OneLab Virtual Reality Training Around Pandemic Preparedness. November 2, 2023. https://www.ascp.org/content/news-archive/news-detail/2023/11/02/ascp-2023-features-cdc-onelab-virtual-reality-training-around-pandemic-preparedness.

1. 1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About CDC OneLab™. https://reach.cdc.gov/about.

1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. OneLab VR. https://reach.cdc.gov/onelabvr.

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Joe Rothschild is the lead of the Virtual Reality Training Team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Rothschild, whose background in film and television has seen him work on shows like COPS, National Geographic, Oprah, and prime-time news, has spent over 17 years at the CDC supporting the dissemination and evaluation of dynamic web- and computer-based health communication programs. Rothschild has also led the development of several CDC firsts—the first 508-compliant Flash widget, the first VR laboratory training course, the first eLearning syndication system, and the first live-to-web microscope training webinar.