JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) applications are gaining popularity in healthcare professional education. They provide an uninterrupted, scaled environment capable of simulating the full magnitude of sensory stimuli present in busy healthcare settings, and increase the competence and confidence of students by providing them with accessible and repeatable learning opportunities in a fail-safe environment.

Objective:

The aim of this systematic review was to evaluate the effects of IVR teaching on improving the learning outcomes and experiences of undergraduate healthcare students compared with other teaching methods.

Methods:

Medline, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus databases were searched for randomized controlled trials (RCT) or quasi-experimental studies published in English between January 2000 and March 2022. The inclusion criteria were studies that (1) included undergraduate students majored in professional healthcare (2) IVR teaching (3) evaluations of student learning outcomes and experiences. The methodological validity of the included studies was examined using the Joanna Briggs Institute’s standard critical appraisal instruments for randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental studies. A narrative analysis was used to synthesize the main data.

Results:

A total of 17 articles from 16 studies, with a total of 1,787 participants, conducted between 2007 and 2021, met the criteria and were included in this review. The undergraduate students in the studies majored in medicine, nursing, rehabilitation, pharmacy, biomedicine, radiography, audiology, or stomatology. Thirteen studies used IVR for procedural skill training, two studies used it to teach students anatomical knowledge, and one study used it to orientate the students to the operation room setting. The quality of the 12 studies adopting an RCT design was poor, with unclear descriptions of randomization, allocation concealment, and outcome assessor blinding procedures. The overall risk of bias was relatively low in the four quasi-experimental studies. The overall learning outcomes from using IVR to teach procedural skills and knowledge acquisition were positive. However, the results were inconclusive on whether students who had been taught using IVR performed better than those who had been taught using other methods. Students generally reflected that their learning experiences were positive and favored the use of IVR teaching over other teaching approaches.

Conclusions:

This review found evidence that undergraduate students had positive learning outcomes and experiences after engaging with IVR teaching, although the effects may be similar compared with other forms of VR teaching or conventional teaching methods. In general, most students favored the use of IVR as a teaching medium over other teaching approaches. Clinical Trial: PROSPERO (CRD42022313706)