ePoster
Talk Description
Institution: Royal Prince Alfred Hospital - NSW, Australia
PURPOSE: In the last decade, the use of Virtual Reality (VR) within health training and education has increased greatly. Using a VR headset that displays a computer-generated environment, surgical techniques and procedures can be demonstrated immersing the learner in a lifelike situation. Noting the potential benefits, the Vantari VR training platform was made available to surgical multidisciplinary team (MDT) members for a 2.5-year period at a tertiary referral hospital in Sydney, Australia to assess the feasibility of this teaching method.
METHODOLOGY: A prospective pre and post feasibility study utilising questionnaires based on the RE-AIM framework was provided to health professionals and students attending surgical training workshops that used VR from April 2023 to June 2025.
RESULTS: A total of 18 participants (72% male) completed the pre and post questionnaires. Eight (44%) were surgical trainees, nine (50%) were medical trainees and one (0.05%) was a nurse. Sixteen (89%) participants had little to no experience with VR before attending the training and greater than 50% had little to no confidence with the surgical skill they were going to learn. Following the course, 18 (100%) participants agreed or strongly agreed the course was useful, with 16 (89%) reporting they could apply this knowledge and training to their role. Confidence in the skill they were learning improved after each training session, noting there was no tactile feedback. The ease of using VR was consistently reported, with most participants feeling confident in each aspect of the training.
CONCLUSION: Overall, VR education provided a safe training environment that was easy to use and improved confidence in learning surgical skills for MDT members.
Presenters
Authors
Authors
A/Prof Sharon Carey - , Dr Jonathan Hong - , Dr Sarah Whereat - , Dr David Storey - , Dr Vijay Paul - , Dr Nishanth Krishnananthan - , Dr Sophie Hogan -