Neurology involves the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the nervous system which includes the brain, spinal cord, nerves, as well as all effector tissue. Conditions treated by neurologists including stroke, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Traumatic Brain Injury, Sleep Apnea, Post-traumatic Stress Disorder, Myasthenia Gravis, Restless Leg Syndrome, Peripheral Neuropathy, epilepsy, sleep disorders, chronic pain, migraines and general age-related issues have a direct impact on driving.
A driving simulator can be used in a clinical setting to safely diagnose levels of impairment, assess driving fitness, and to help individuals through the rehabilitation process. A driving simulator can be used to evaluate brain functions relating to driver fitness and other complex Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL). It can be considered “the treadmill for the brain” and may be used for assessment, treatment and practice of visuo-spatial and attentional skills and abilities.
The virtual driving scenarios have been developed for specific medical conditions, with the underlying purpose of entailing features in the scenario that specifically map to perceptual, cognitive, and motor-control performance abilities to sensitively detect impairments of brain functioning such as memory, visual processing speed, divided attention, judgment and so forth. This will produce functional outcomes and allow for the development of individualized patient care pathways.
Driving simulation provides clinicians with a modern system to evaluate perceptual, cognitive and motor-control abilities. Assessment of these abilities will help guide medical decision-making for further testing, functional outcomes, interventions or advice for other complex tasks and occupations (besides driving) that rely on sort term memory, divided attention, visual processing speed, spatial orientation and situational awareness. Driving simulation is a system level, functional test which combines component functions into an integrated, dynamic performance test to see how well patients perform and react “under the pressure of time.”
The DriveSafety CDS™ clinical driving simulator explores a range of sensory, cognitive and motor abilities including:
- Spatial orientation (visuo-spatial)
- Situational awareness (pattern recognition)
- Spatial navigation (judgment)
- Short-term memory
- Divided and selective attention
- Visual search
- Kinetic depth perception (TTC)
- Reaction Times (visual processing speed)
- Error production and correction
- Decision-making and planning
Unlike static individual component neuropsychological tests, the CDS simulator is a dynamic functional performance test, which requires simultaneous processing of many different cognitive functions in an integrated manner.
The turn-key CDS driving simulator is based on an actual car – a Ford Focus – giving all parties some face validation. The CDS Scenarios suite of virtual drives provide the OT and the patients a variety of driving situations including residential, suburban, urban, rural, industrial and freeway as well as various lighting (bright sunlight to dark nighttime) and weather conditions (clear, foggy, snowy). The virtual driving scenarios range from simple, adaptation drives and limited complexity to transitional drives that involved multiple real-world driving settings and various environmental factors. There are enough of them to avoid the clients from memorizing them. The driving scenarios are designed in accordance with AASHTO, MUTCD and ADED best practices for delivery of driver rehabilitation services.
The administrative interface is intuitive – the administrator can begin running virtual practice drives immediately. The administrator has the ability to play-back the patients’ practice drives, allowing the OT to point out to the patient the positive and negative behaviors and for the patient to learning and gain additional insight.
A suite of virtual drives involving a variety of common driving situations allows the therapists or clinicians to see their patients in a series of driving environments, from the simple to the complex.
A neurological clinic can benefit from a validated driving simulator. This brain treadmill will enable the medical practice to help provide cognitive evaluations and assessments, treatment options, practice for rehabilitating patients. The system will provide added interest into the clinic by patients and their families, researchers, administrators, and the media. It is a new source of clinical revenue that can begin paying back immediately.
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