VR technology is already used in North American and European medical schools to teach anatomy, physiology, and surgery (Sattar et al., 2020). When learning anatomy and physiology, students can view 3D organ structures and observe their roles in body systems. When learning surgery, students use VR to simulate surgical procedures in real time. These simulations do not put patients at risk and do not require biological specimens such as animals or cadavers. Therefore, VR offers an immersive and ethical educational experience. The video below shows how VR simulates surgical procedures for students.
Cedar-Sinai hospital and Queen’s University are specific examples of North American educational institutions using VR to teach future doctors. Cedar-Sinai has already developed the first accredited VR-based online course in medical education. Currently, this course is offered in partnership with GIBLIB, an online medical education streaming service. Unfortunately, this course is not open to all learners; access to GIBLIB requires a paid subscription. Queen’s University uses a VR training facility to teach medical students about clinical protocol and various medical procedures. However, students must participate in person and pay a premium for the training. As more VR-based courses and training strategies are developed for medical education, hopefully these simulations will become more accessible for all learners.
In Europe, Oxford Medical Simulation develops VR educational modules to train healthcare professionals across the continent and beyond. Their modules can be accessed anywhere and include instant personalized feedback for learners after completion of each simulation. Jack Pottle, the co-founder and medical director of Oxford Medical Simulation, was featured on SimulCast, a podcast about simulations used in healthcare. This episode can be accessed below:
Navigation
- Introduction
- How is VR Currently Used in Medical Education?
- Students
- Ease of Use
- Cost
- Teaching
- Interaction
- Organizational Issues
- Novelty and Networking
- Security and Privacy
- Conclusion and Question
- References and Attribution
License
This work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC) Attribution 4.0 International
