A colleague and I were in the Cincinnati area last week. We were doing a series of in-service sessions for some of the hospitals and clinics in the area. On Friday, we were fortunate enough to visit the good people of HealthSouth in Edgewood, KY.

We did a 45-60 minute inservice and allowed the physical therapists and occupational therapsit that wanted to test drive the CDS-251 clinical driving simulator.

A few of the therapists wanted to see how some of their patients did on a drving simulator. We had three willing volunteers, all out-patients recoving from strokes:  a 40-something male, a 70-something male, and an 86 year old female.

In all cases, they were able to practice getting in and out of the car. They were able to adjust the car to their body;  e.g., seat and seat belt. They all experienced a simple virtual drive without traffic and without any significant turning or braking. This was a familiarization scenario. Driving in a simulator is like driving but not exactly -- it takes some adaptation.

It was good to see the younger man work with his right foot, one he had trouble moving from accelerator to brake. The 86 year old lady did just fine. She drove a bit slow but what older lady doesn't? At the end, she patted the gear shift and said "nice car."

We hope more and more medical organizations are able to try and deploy the CDS-250 clincial driving simulator. It is a very engaging and compelling piece of technology.