Virtual reality in medical emergencies training: benefits, perceived stress, and learning success

Abstract

Medical graduates lack procedural skills experience required to manage emergencies. Recent advances in virtual reality (VR) technology enable the creation of highly immersive learning environments representing easy-to-use and affordable solutions for training with simulation. However, the feasibility in compulsory teaching, possible side effects of immersion, perceived stress, and didactic benefits have to be investigated systematically. VR-based training sessions using head-mounted displays alongside a real-time dynamic physiology system were held by student assistants for small groups followed by debriefing with a tutor. In the pilot study, 36 students rated simulation sickness. In the main study, 97 students completed a virtual scenario as active participants (AP) and 130 students as observers (OBS) from the first-person perspective on a monitor. Participants completed questionnaires for evaluation purposes and exploratory factor analysis was performed on the items. The extent of simulation sickness remained low to acceptable among participants of the pilot study. In the main study, students valued the realistic environment and guided practical exercise. AP perceived the degree of immersion as well as the estimated learning success to be greater than OBS and proved to be more motivated post training. With respect to AP, the factor “sense of control” revealed a typical inverse U-shaped relationship to the scales “didactic value” and “individual learning benefit”. Summing up, curricular implementation of highly immersive VR-based training of emergencies proved feasible and found a high degree of acceptance among medical students. This study also provides insights into how different conceptions of perceived stress distinctively moderate subjective learning success.

Virtual Reality for Assessing Emergency Medical Competencies in Junior Doctors – A Pilot Study

“…STEP-VR (version 0.13b) was used as the VR simulation of complex emergencies together with the hardware setup and head-mounted displays essentially as described previously [7].…”

“…For the teaching of practical and, especially, emergency medical competencies (EMC), as stipulated by curriculum frameworks, simulation environments implemented in virtual reality (VR) represent a promising approach. In recent years, numerous simulation environments, each with its own distinct emphasis, have been developed and incorporated into curricula [7][8][9]. VR simulations can enhance motivation and contextualization of learning, showing promising effects on both skills and knowledge level acquisition [10,11].…”

Der „Surgical Track“ – innovative Ansätze gegen den Nachwuchsmangel in der Chirurgie

“…Hier gemachte Fehler haben keine Konsequenzen für die Studierenden oder reale Patient:innen, können analysiert und durch Wiederholungen vermieden werden [ 26 – 28 ]. Hierbei ist der große Vorteil der VR-Simulation, eine immersive Spielerfahrung zu erzeugen, wodurch realitätsnahe Trainingsszenarien möglich sind [ 29 ]. Die kommerzielle Entwicklung solch hochwertiger Produkte ist jedoch ressourcenintensiv und subventionsbedürftig, da durch die Entwicklungskosten hohe Verkaufszahlen notwendig wären, um profitabel zu sein [ 30 ].…”

Emergency competencies for medical students

“…VR ist in den letzten Jahren aus der Gaming-Szene kommend stark weiterentwickelt worden und bietet mittlerweile durch speziell entwickelte Softwarelösungen [1,13] viele Anwendungsmöglichkeiten im medizinischen Kontext. In einigen Studien wurde bereits gezeigt, dass VR in die curriculare Lehre eingebunden werden kann und neben einem "performance benefit" auch eine hohe Akzeptanz bei den Studierenden und Dozierenden für diese Form der Simulation besteht [5,9,10].…”

“…In Bezug auf das bisher wenig erforschte Gebiet von notfallmedizinischen Trainings in VR haben Mühling et al in ihrer Studie gezeigt, dass VR für das Erlernen von prozeduralen Fähigkeiten sinnvoll in das Curriculum eingebunden werden kann [10].…”