Virtual reality and the transformation of medical education

Abstract

Author: A co-founder and chief medical officer, Oxford Medical Simulation , London, UK would do in real life, then providing feedback and debrief on performance. Simulation is effective in many domains and has been found to be 'superior to traditional clinical education, producing powerful educational interventions that yield immediate and lasting results.' 1 However, while simulation is becoming central to healthcare education, it requires significantly more resources than traditional education. At a time when healthcare systems and educational institutions globally are struggling with growing demands and limited budgets, additional resources are hard to come by. Fortunately, there has been a recent dramatic expansion in the ways in which we can deliver medical education. This has not only been through the internet and mobile devices, but through immersive technologies. These technologies-including augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR)-can transform how we deliver educational experiences. VR in particular has been adopted across medical and nursing fields. VR involves the user putting on a VR headset to become completely immersed in an interactive virtual environment. When used with appropriate educational software, this allows the user to learn from experience in the virtual world. This paper outlines what VR is; its strengths, its weaknesses, the evidence behind it, its use in practice and where the future lies.