Desktop Virtual Reality Versus Face-to-Face Simulation for Team-Training on Stress Levels and Performance in Clinical Deterioration: a Randomised Controlled Trial

Abstract

Background Simulation-based education can equip healthcare providers with the ability to respond to and manage stressors associated with rapidly deteriorating patient situations. However, little is known about the benefits of using virtual reality (VR) for this purpose. Objective To compare between desktop VR and face-to-face simulation in stress responses and performance outcomes of a team-based simulation training in managing clinical deterioration. Design A randomised controlled study Method The study was conducted on 120 medical and nursing students working in interprofessional teams. The teams were randomly assigned to participate in a 2-h simulation using either the desktop VR or face-to-face simulation with simulated patient (SP). Biophysiological stress response, psychological stress, and confidence levels were measured before and after the simulation. Performance outcomes were evaluated after the simulation using a deteriorating patient scenario. Results The systolic blood pressure and psychological stress response were significantly increased among participants in VR and SP groups; however, no significant differences were found between the groups. There was also no significant difference in confidence and performance outcomes between participants in the VR and SP groups for both medical and nursing students. Although the psychological stress response was negatively correlated (r = −0.43; p < 0.01) with confidence levels, there was no association between stress response and performance score. Conclusion Despite being less immersive, the desktop VR was capable of inducing psychological and physiological stress responses by placing emotional, social, and cognitive demands on learners. Additionally, by ensuring close alignment between the simulation tasks and the clinical tasks (i.e. functional fidelity), the desktop VR may provide similar performance outcomes as conventional simulation training. This evidence is timely given the rise in the use of virtual learning platforms to facilitate training during the COVID-19 pandemic where face-to-face training may not be feasible. Trial Registration The study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04330924.

Design and Evaluation of Using Head-Mounted Virtual Reality for Learning Clinical Procedures: Mixed Methods Study

“…Studies also suggest that these conventional teaching methods do not fully meet the needs, interests, and learning preferences of Generation Z students [ 4 , 5 ]. The novel discovery of virtual technology has been explored for its effectiveness in enhancing students’ learning in nursing education [ 3 , 6 , 7 ].…”

Cross-Sectional Study on the Comparative Assessment of Mandibular Anesthesia (Inferior Alveolar Nerve Blockage) Manual Skills Shaping among Dentists on Plastic and Biomaterial Models

“…Due to the significant inequality between the main and the comparison groups, in order to avoid differences using IBM SPSS Statistics 26 [RUS] software, a random selection of 299 observations from the comparison group was carried out to balance the categories of results. The number of participants was counted using the common way and formula, with the results of the other closest research [ 8 , 10 ].…”

“…Liaw S.Y. et al, 2022, drew a conclusion that VR-tech learning could provide the similar performance outcomes as conventional simulation training [ 10 ]. The main difficulty in implementing VR-tech learning is the non-uniqueness of the results, due to the complexity of teaching VR technologies for manual-skills shaping.…”

Virtual Reality Animal Rescue World: Pediatric virtual reality analgesia during just noticeable pressure pain in children aged 2–10 years old (crossover design)

“…“VR uses computer technology to create an interactive three dimensional virtual world in which a user or multiple users can experience a simulated environment. The level of immersion of VR simulations can vary from the use of less immersive desktop VR to the high immersive head-mounted display (HMD) VR.” ( Liaw et al, 2022 , p. 2, see also Li et al, 2020 )…”