Through the eye of the master: The use of Virtual Reality in the teaching of surgical hand preparation

Virtual Reality (VR) demonstrates unique educational benefits over other teaching mediums including enhanced engagement and learner motivation. Such benefits could be exploited to improve teaching of surgical hand preparation (SHP), a practice crucial in preventing post-surgical infection. This study hypothesises that the utilisation of VR technology to demonstrate SHP technique will produce superior skill acquisition and longer skill retention than the standard practice of video demonstration. 40 healthcare students unfamiliar with SHP were recruited from a tertiary university and randomised into two groups. The control group (n=21) viewed a video demonstration of SHP while the VR group (n=19) viewed a VR demonstration of the same technique. Participants were assessed immediately after demonstration (acquisition score), and again one week later (retention score), using a 20-point assessment scale. Scores were compared between the groups. Groups were equal in age, prior education, handedness and gender distribution. Neither skill acquisition (Control mean: 12.29, VR mean: 12.84; p = 0.57) nor retention (Control mean: 12.29, VR mean: 12.74; p = 0.52) differed significantly between groups however a non-significant trend toward better performance in the VR group was observed. Parallel scoring of 35% of participants showed very high inter-rater reliability (intra-class correlation coefficient = 0.92). Utilisation of VR technology did not demonstrate a perceivable acquisition or retention benefit in the teaching of SHP. Future studies could investigate the value of more immersive features including 360-degree point of view or haptic feedback which were not features of the technology used in the present study.