Virtual reality in medical education
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Bild: Weltraum und Satellit; Copyright: DLR Bild: Weltraum und Satellit; Copyright: DLR

Virtual reality in medical education

Stronger emergency readiness through virtual training

Virtual reality opens up new possibilities in medical training. This technology, which until now has often been seen as a “nice-to-have” method in many applications, is increasingly being proven to be an effective, long-term addition to the conventional curriculum. Two studies by the University Hospital of Würzburg, for example, are looking at virtual training scenarios for the emergency department.

Dr. Tobias Mühling is head of the teaching clinic at the UKW's Center for Study Program Management and Development (ZSME). Together with a 3D start-up from Munich, his team has been planning the virtual emergency room “STEP-VR” since 2018. Students have been using it to train in complex virtual reality emergency scenarios at the teaching clinic since 2020.

A scene from the VR training in the seminar

Dr. Mühling supports a student who is in the virtual emergency room

The Virtual Reality Simulation in Medical Studies working group at the University Hospital of Würzburg is researching the learning effects of VR programs. Dr. Mühling wants to find out how to ensure that “students retain as many learning experiences as possible, which can then be recalled later as a doctor.”

Another topic is VR-based examinations: Do such exams work? Are they representative and fair? What do they cost? Can assessments in VR perhaps also be carried out later in the application process for a doctor's position? The study on the project was recently published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research.

Some insights have already been gained:

percent of students were able to use VR technology without any problems.
euros saved by VR training per semester compared to physical stations
of 57 VR data sets could be included without technical problems.

Advantages of VR training in medical studies in general

VR enables the creation of complex, immersive scenarios that can depict realistic disease progressions in real time. This gives students the opportunity to test the effect of medication on circulatory parameters, for example, which is only possible to a limited extent in the real world. At the same time, VR is cost-efficient and scalable: instead of acting patients and freelance instructors, each simulation only requires a laptop and a VR headset. This means that students can be familiarized with emergency situations more intensively than before.

Why is VR training particularly helpful in emergency medicine?

How do medical students react to the VR training methods?

Photo: Doctor with patient on a couch; Copyright: Mühling T, Schreiner V, Appel M, Leutritz T, König S Comparing Virtual Reality–Based and Traditional Physical Objective Structured Clinical Examina Image: Virtual patient room with patient on the couch; Copyright: Mühling T, Schreiner V, Appel M, Leutritz T, König S Comparing Virtual Reality–Based and Traditional Physical Objective Structu

Real and virtual scenario
A comparative image from the study "Comparing Virtual Reality–Based and Traditional Physical Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) Stations for Clinical Competency Assessments: Randomized Controlled Trial" © Mühling T, Schreiner V, Appel M, Leutritz T, König S, J Med Internet Res 2025;27:e55066.

Professionally planned integration for optimum learning success

VR training must be used sensibly. When do they have real added value?

When Dr. Mühling talks about sensible use and real-life scenarios, this is partly a matter of embedding them in the curriculum, but also a matter of optimal implementation from a technological perspective.

Andreas Malhofer and Annett Köhler from the start-up THREEDEE are responsible for the technological implementation, and in the following overview they give us further tips on how VR traning can be used optimally.

Integration into the curriculum

VR training should be seamlessly embedded into existing curricula to complement rather than replace traditional teaching methods. Clear learning objectives, aligned with the curriculum, and close collaboration with teachers are essential.

Interactive and engaging training modules

Modules should include interactive elements such as decision-making options to encourage participant engagement. This increases motivation and learning success.

Flexibility and adaptability

VR training must be individually adaptable to the different learning needs and learning rhythms of the participants. This enables an optimal learning experience.

Feedback mechanisms

Real-time feedback and detailed analyses after the modules help students to work specifically on weaknesses and recognize progress.

User-friendliness and accessibility

An intuitive user interface and clear instructions ensure that participants can easily complete the training. This minimizes technical hurdles and increases efficiency.

Another study: The multiplayer version for interprofessional training

This video shows a multiplayer version, another project that is currently being accompanied by a study. This scenario is designed to enable skills such as communication and collaboration in emergency situations with several students at the same time.

Collaboration needs to be practiced

Dr. Mühling emphasizes: “Successful interprofessional collaboration is a decisive factor for patient safety in emergency care. Since April 2024, we have been researching how nursing students and medical students can learn different facets of teamwork in joint VR scenarios.”

To this end, the team uses established concepts and adapts them to the new context of VR environments together with experts.

The team's goal:

“This will allow us to objectively and reliably measure the quality of team collaboration in the future. There was a great deal of interest in the concept, so this study is now being rolled out at five other locations in Germany. The first results are expected to be available in the second half of 2025,” says Dr. Mühling.

The right compromise between abstraction and realism is key - both in the visual design and in the implementation of interactions and program logic.

Andreas Malhofer and Annett Köhler
THREEDEE Gmbh
Bild: Woman with VR glasses and controllers; Copyright: envato

Programming is a key success factor for high-quality training

The balancing act between reality, user-friendliness and abstraction in programming

Creating complex training situations in a medical environment requires a lot of experience. Annett Köhler describes the balancing act between abstraction and realism: “Too much simplification dilutes the feeling of being present in the VR environment and curtails the actual learning content. Simulating everything in great detail and realistically not only increases the development effort enormously, but it also makes it increasingly difficult to ensure a stringent and comprehensible user experience.” 

She emphasizes: “Ideally, the virtual world makes optimal use of the possibilities of common VR systems. On the input side, this means using head and hand positions, a few buttons on the controllers and the microphone. On the output side, the stereoscopic moving image, sound and (simplified) haptic feedback should be used optimally. I think it's important not to demand more from the simulation than the input and output can offer.”

In her opinion, for example, examinations such as palpation or sonography of a patient can be depicted as processes. Nevertheless, one should not expect to be able to simulate the necessary haptic elements (at least without additional hardware) if these examinations are to be regarded as central learning content in themselves.

From a technological perspective: What functions could become possible in the future?

Chart Future development AI; Copyright: MEDICA.de

A positive outlook for the learning effects of VR training in all healthcare professions

Virtual reality brings a breath of fresh air to medical training: students can train emergency scenarios such as sepsis or anaphylaxis safely and interactively in a virtual emergency room. Lifelike situations are created without the effort of acting patients, encouraging independent decision-making. And this is just the beginning - new possibilities for training and examinations based on technological developments can sustainably increase learning success in healthcare professions.

Multimedial editing: Natascha Mörs

MEDICA.de

Bild: Medizinstudentin mit VR-Brille und Controllern; Copyright: UKW/Threedee

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