An Experimental Study On Usefulness Of Virtual Reality 360° In Undergraduate Medical Education

• Main Authors: Sultan L, Abuznadah W, Al-Jifree H, Khan MA, Alsaywid B, Ashour F
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2019-10-01
• Series: Advances in Medical Education and Practice
• Subjects: communication; medical education; saudi arabia; virtual reality
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/an-experimental-study-on-usefulness-of-virtual-reality-360deg-in-under-peer-reviewed-article-AMEP
• ISSN: 1179-7258

Lama Sultan,1,2 Wesam Abuznadah,1,3 Hatim Al-Jifree,1,4 Muhammad Anwar Khan,1 Basim Alsaywid,1,5 Faisal Ashour6 1College of Medicine, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 2Clinical Nutrition Department, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 3Department of Surgery, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Gynecology/Oncology, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 5Department of Urology, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; 6Department of Simulation, Postgraduate Training Center, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaCorrespondence: Lama SultanCollege of Medicine – Jeddah, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, King Abdulaziz Medical City, National Guard Health Affairs, Mail Code 6660, P.O. Box 9515, Jeddah 21423, Kingdom of Saudi ArabiaTel [phone]Email [e-mail]: Various smartphone-based virtual reality (VR) applications allow the users to view 360° videos of real or simulated places. A 360° VR is captured with a special camera that simultaneously records all 360° of a scene unlike the standard video recording. An experimental study was conducted where 4th-year medical students participated in a workshop.Patients and methods: The study was conducted at College of Medicine (COM-J), King Saud bin Abdul-Aziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. 360° VR videos including, pre-briefing and debriefing sessions were held for the experimental group, whereas group two (control group) was provided with the interactive lecture. A total of 169 undergraduate medical students attend the 4th year at the College of Medicine (KSAU-HS) Jeddah.Results: The response rate was 88% for 169 participants, 57 (VR) and 112 (conventional method). The majority of students (93%) thought that VR can be used in medical education. Post-MCQs score (out of 20) was significantly higher in the VR group, when compared to the conventional group (17.4+2.1 vs 15.9+2.9, p-value <0.001). The OSCE score was also better with the VR group (12.9+4.1 vs 9.8+4.2, p-value <0.001). Overall rating of VR satisfaction experience showed a mean of 7.26 of 10.Conclusion: VR provides a rich, interactive, and engaging educational context that supports experiential learning-by-doing. In fact, it raises interest and motivation for student and effectively supports knowledge retention and skills acquisition.Keywords: communication, medical education, Saudi Arabia, virtual reality