JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Virtual realities (VR) are increasingly used as simulation technology in emergency medicine education and training, in particular for training non-technical skills. Experimental studies comparing teaching and learning in VR with traditional training media often demonstrate the equivalence or even superiority regarding particular variables of learning or training effectiveness.

Objective:

In the project EPICSAVE, a highly immersive room-scaled multi-user 3D VR simulation environment was developed. In this feasibility study, we wanted to gain initial insights into the training effectiveness and media-specific factors influencing learning and training in VR.

Methods:

The virtual emergency scenario was anaphylaxis stage III with shock, swelling of the upper and lower respiratory tract, as well as skin symptoms in a 5-year-old girl (virtual patient) visiting an indoor family amusement park with her grandfather (virtual agent). A cross-sectional, one-group pre- and post-test design was used to evaluate the training effectiveness and quality of the training execution, including 18 active emergency physicians.

Results:

The participants rated the VR simulation training positive in terms of training effectiveness and quality of the training execution. A strong, significant correlation between experiencing presence and assessing training effectiveness could be observed. Perceived limitations in usability and relatively high extraneous cognitive load reduced this positive effect.

Conclusions:

The training within the virtual simulation environment was rated as an effective educational approach. Specific media usage factors appear to modulate training effectiveness, i.e. improvement by ‘experience of presence’, or reduction by perceived limitations in usability. These factors should be specific targets in the further development of this VR simulation training.