VIROO Enables Scalable VR Training for Hospital Emergency Care
The Basque Country is strengthening its position as a leader in healthcare innovation through a virtual reality training initiative developed by the Biobizkaia Health Research Institute and Virtualware.
Built on VIROO, Virtualware’s enterprise XR platform, the project enables Osakidetza professionals to train for critical emergency care scenarios in a fully immersive and data-driven environment.
The Basque Country positions itself at the forefront of innovation thanks to a project that uses virtual reality to train professionals from Osakidetza.
Emergency departments in hospitals are among the most demanding and critical healthcare environments. Effective triage is essential to quickly assess patient severity, prioritize care, and ensure that hospital resources are used efficiently. Accurate decision-making at this stage plays a key role in reducing risks and improving patient outcomes in high-pressure emergency settings.
To support healthcare professionals in this critical task, the Biobizkaia Health Research Institute partnered with Virtualware to create an advanced VR-based training solution. The goal is to provide emergency staff with hands-on, realistic training that helps them improve decision-making skills in a safe, controlled, and repeatable environment
The solution has been developed on VIROO, Virtualware’s enterprise XR platform, and currently features more than 100 different emergency care scenarios.
Healthcare teams interact with realistic clinical cases within a virtual environment that replicates the Emergency Department of Basurto University Hospital. Professionals must assess virtual patients, ask the right questions, and make fast, informed decisions. The platform automatically generates objective performance metrics, including response times and decision quality, supporting structured learning and continuous improvement.
One of the key advantages of this VR-based approach is the ability to deliver safe, repeatable training without disrupting hospital operations. Using VIROO, professionals can practice complex emergency scenarios as many times as needed, gaining confidence and experience in conditions that closely mirror real clinical practice, but without any risk to patients.
Multidisciplinary collaboration
The project is coordinated by the Biobizkaia Health Research Institute, with Virtualware contributing its expertise in immersive technologies. This collaboration has made it possible to translate clinical knowledge and protocols into a fully immersive XR training experience delivered through the VIROO platform.
The initiative is funded through the MedTech program of the Basque Foundation for Health Innovation and Research (BIOEF), part of the Basque Government, reinforcing its commitment to the adoption of advanced technologies in healthcare training.
The development and validation of the solution involved active participation from healthcare professionals within Osakidetza, specifically from Basurto University Hospital, Cruces University Hospital, and Urduliz Alfredo Espinosa Hospital. Their clinical expertise has been essential in ensuring the realism, accuracy, and relevance of the training scenarios.
The training cases were designed with the direct involvement of nursing professionals and coordinated by Sendoa Ballesteros Peña, Deputy Director of Nursing at Santa Marina Hospital and researcher at IIS Biobizkaia, ensuring that the simulations reflect real-world emergency workflows and decision-making processes.
The original concept for the project emerged within OSI Bilbao-Basurto (Osakidetza). In collaboration with the Harrobia Vocational Training Center, the initiative began as a serious game designed to support the training of emergency department professionals and later evolved into a fully immersive VR training solution on VIROO.
Impact and future outlook
This initiative serves as a strong example of public–private collaboration focused on transforming healthcare training through the use of immersive technology.
Beyond improving the preparedness of hospital emergency teams, the project shows how VIROO enables the scalable deployment of virtual reality training, making it possible to extend this methodology to other clinical areas and healthcare organizations. In doing so, it reinforces the Basque Country’s position as a European reference in the application of advanced digital technologies to healthcare.
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