Berlin Heart Center

Customer story

Eye tracking as a way to illustrate surgical methods and assess students’ learning

Resource Details

  • Written by

    Tobii

  • Read time

    7 min

Eye tracking provides a clear and accurate picture of where a person’s visual attention is focused. This information can be used to demonstrate the cognitive processes attached to particular tasks and assess the level of understanding displayed by students during the learning process.

When I was training perfusion students in the operating room, it was always difficult to find if they captured things going on in the operating room especially the monitoring ….eye tracking is a great tool to evaluate [that].
Frank Merkle, Perfusionist & Educator, German Heart Center Berlin
Tobii Pro Glasses 2 used for medical stuff training both in real and simulated environments

The background  

Eye tracking as a valuable resource in medical training 

The skillset of an experienced medical practitioner takes years to develop and is the result of time and practice. Many techniques are attached to cognitive processes which are subconscious and instinctive, making them hard to explain. Eye tracking provides a method to not only identify these behaviors, but record and observe them, giving students access to this valuable knowledge.  

Tobii Pro Glasses 2 used for medical stuff training both in real and simulated environments
This is the first time we can actually get data on visual human information collection…and we can use this data to optimize training procedures, we can also optimize operative procedures.
Prof. Dr. Christoph Starck, German Heart Center Berlin

The method

How eye tracking can be used as an assessment tool in education

The German Heart Center in Berlin has used eye tracking to examine the cognitive processes of perfusionists, to see how they respond to different stimuli and complications during a procedure, and how they distribute their attention across relevant areas of interest.

Medical surgeon using eye tracking glasses for training

The conclusion

This knowledge has been used to better articulate the process of operating the heart-lung machine and monitoring the patient's vital signs. Eye tracking has also been used to assess whether students display the correct attention patterns during simulated surgeries, and to make comparative evaluations of stress levels and behavioral patterns during real and simulated procedures.

For eye tracking research within the medical field, we offer Tobii Pro Glasses 3 wearable eye tracker. Lightweight and unobtrusive, it provides immediate insight into an individual’s visual behavior.

Related information

Resource Details

  • Written by

    Tobii

  • Read time

    7 min

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