There is a strong demand for virtual reality (VR) to bring quality healthcare to underserved populations. This paper addresses this need with the design and prototype of SURVIVRS: Surround Video-Based Virtual Reality for Surgery Guidance. SURVIVRS allows a remote specialist to guide a local surgery team through a virtual reality (VR) telepresence interface. SURVIVRS is motivated by a need for medical expertise in remote and hard-to-reach areas, such as low-to-middle-income countries (LMICs). The remote surgeon interface allows the live observation of a procedure and combines 3D user interface annotation and communication tools on streams of the surgical site and the patient vitals monitor. SURVIVRS also supports debriefing and educational experiences by offering the ability for users to watch recorded surgeries from the point of view of the remote expert. The main contributions of this work are: the feasibility demonstration of the SURVIVRS system through a rigorous 3D user interface design process; the implementation of a prototype application that realizes the proposed design; and a usability evaluation of SURVIVRS showing that the tool was highly favored by users from the general population. The paper discusses the next steps in this line of research aimed at more equitable and diverse access to healthcare.

翻译：虚拟现实（VR）技术在为医疗资源匮乏人群提供优质医疗服务方面具有强烈需求。本文通过设计并原型实现SURVIVRS（环绕视频虚拟现实手术引导系统）来满足这一需求。该系统使远程专家能够通过虚拟现实（VR）远程呈现界面指导当地手术团队。SURVIVRS的研发动机源于偏远及难以抵达地区（如中低收入国家）对医疗专业知识的迫切需求。远程手术界面支持实时观察手术过程，并在手术部位与患者生命体征监护仪的视频流上集成3D用户界面标注与通信工具。此外，SURVIVRS通过支持用户以远程专家视角回放录制手术，实现手术复盘与教育功能。本研究的主要贡献包括：通过严谨的3D用户界面设计流程验证SURVIVRS系统的可行性；实现对应设计原型的应用程序；以及通过可用性评估证明该工具在普通人群中获得高度青睐。本文讨论了旨在实现更公平、多样化医疗服务获取的下一步研究方向。