Immersive learning using virtual reality learning platforms is a rapidly emerging industry that promises to revolutionize how important job skills are taught, especially in professions where the stakes are high and mistakes can be extremely costly.
Despite a lot of hype and anecdotal evidence, there isn’t much concrete data confirming or denying that virtual reality training really delivers on its promise. To change that, Toronto-based Lumeto, a company developing VR learning platforms for healthcare and public safety, partnered with The American College of CHEST Physicians to study the effectiveness of Lumeto’s learning platform Involve XR when used by medical and healthcare workers.
“The study aimed to evaluate usability, efficacy, and user satisfaction of virtual reality (VR) simulation,” states the press release. “The results indicated universally easy adoption, encouraging efficacy results, and overwhelmingly strong learner confidence.”
The thirty-nine participants came from The Mayo Clinic, NYU, and Wake Forest University, and they included physicians, advanced nurse practitioners, respiratory therapists, physician’s assistants, fellows-in-training, and residents. They used Lumeto’s learning platform Involve XR to participate in multi-user, instructor-led VR training sessions and role-playing an intubation scenario in VR.
Even though 56% of participants have never used VR before, there was a 16% relative increase in procedural knowledge across all learners and a 26% relative increase in procedural knowledge (knowledge exercised in the performance of some task) in residents in the management of a difficult airway. All participants understood what steps to take when they first entered the virtual reality training, and 73% found it easy to role-play the training scenario.
A majority of participants (87%) chose virtual reality as a format beneficial for their learning experience, with only physical simulation ranking higher in terms of its benefits.
