Use of 360° virtual reality video in medical obstetrical education: a quasi-experimental design

Background Video-based teaching has been part of medical education for some time but 360 degrees videos using a virtual reality (VR) device are a new medium that offer extended possibilities. We investigated whether adding a 360 degrees VR video to the internship curriculum leads to an improvement of long-term recall of specific knowledge on a gentle Caesarean Sections (gCS) and on general obstetric knowledge. Methods Two weeks prior to their Obstetrics and Gynaecology (O&G) internship, medical students were divided in teaching groups, that did or did not have access to a VR-video of a gCS. Six weeks after their O&G internship, potentially having observed one or multiple real-life CSs, knowledge on the gCS was assessed with an open questionnaire, and knowledge on general obstetrics with a multiple-choice questionnaire. Furthermore we assessed experienced anxiety during in-person attendance of CSs, and we asked whether the interns would have wanted to attend more CSs in-person. The 360 degrees VR video group was questioned about their experience directly after they watched the video. We used linear regression analyses to determine significant effects on outcomes. Results A total of 89 medical students participated, 41 in the 360 degrees VR video group and 48 in the conventional study group. Watching the 360 degrees VR video did not result in a difference in either specific or general knowledge retention between the intervention group and the conventional study group. This was both true for the grade received for the internship, the open-ended questions as well as the multiple-choice questions and this did not change after adjustment for confounding factors. Still, 83.4% of the 360 degrees VR video-group reported that more videos should be used in training to prepare for surgical procedures. In the 360 degrees VR video-group 56.7% reported side effects like nausea or dizziness. After adjustment for the number of attended CSs during the practical internship, students in the 360 degrees VR video-group stated less often (p = 0.04) that they would have liked to attend more CSs in-person as compared to the conventional study group. Conclusion Even though the use of 360 degrees VR video did not increase knowledge, it did offer a potential alternative for attending a CS in-person and a new way to prepare the students for their first operating room experiences.

Automated summary

The use of 360 degrees VR video did not improve knowledge retention in the intervention group compared to the conventional study group, but it did offer a potential alternative for attending a Caesarean Section (CS) in-person and a new way to prepare the students for their first operating room experiences.