Development and Implementation of a Stress Monitoring Paradigm Using Virtual Reality Simulation During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Healthcare providers, particularly during the COVID-19 crisis, have been forced to make difficult decisions and have reported acting in ways that are contrary to their moral values, integrity, and professional commitments, given the constraints in their work environments. Those actions and decisions may lead to healthcare providers' moral suffering and distress. This work outlines the development of the Moral Distress Virtual Reality Simulator (Moral Distress VRS) to research stress and moral distress among healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Moral Distress VRS was developed based on the agile methodology framework, with three simultaneous development streams. It followed a two-week sprint cycle, ending with meetings with stakeholders and subject matter experts, whereby the project requirements, scope, and features were revised, and feedback was provided on the prototypes until reaching the final prototype that was deployed for in-person study sessions. The final prototype had two user interfaces (UIs), one for the participant and one for the researcher, with voice narration and customizable character models wearing medical personal protective equipment, and followed a tree-based dialogue scenario, outputting a video recording of the session. The virtual environment replicated an ICU nursing station and a fully equipped patient room. We present the development process that guided this project, how different teams worked together and in parallel, and detail the decisions and outcomes in creating each major component within a limited deadline. Finally, we list the most significant challenges and difficulties faced and recommendations on how to solve them.