Perspectives of health professions students on using virtual reality as a teaching tool: a cross-sectional study in 10 Ugandan Medical schools

Abstract

Background Virtual reality (VR), a simulation modality for skills acquisition, has been used as a teaching alternative in several professions globally with reportedly excellent practical experience. This makes it one of the few potential solutions for the daily increasing overcrowding in most training classes, including those of medical schools. However, scant data exists on the perceptions of Health Professions Students (HPS), one of the most likely suitable VR users to be once this teaching modality is officially adopted. We aimed to find out Ugandan HPS's perspective on using VR as a teaching tool. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional study among undergraduate health professions students (HPS) aged 18 years and above across ten Ugandan Medical schools. The data was collected through an online survey and analyzed using STATA version 16. Results Overall, 361 HPS, with a mean age of 24.2 (standard deviation, SD = 3.8) years, and a male preponderance (217, 60.1%) participated in this study. A majority (215, 59.6%) were students for Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery (MBChB). Three-hundred and sixteen (87.5%) participants had prior knowledge of VR. Of these, only 56(18%) had acquired this knowledge through class settings, and 136 (37.8%) had used a VR modality before this survey. Of these 136, Seventy-five (54.4%) had used VR in official academic training. A majority (306, 85%) of participants believed that VR would be an important upgrade in modern medicine if introduced as a teaching tool, would be open to using VR if trained to do so (338,94%), and would recommend their adoption in medical training and healthcare (319, 89%). Participants who had prior VR knowledge (p < 0.001) and those who had been formally introduced to the concept of VR (p = 0.032) were likely to accept VR as a learning model. Conclusion Despite the participants' high awareness and positive attitude towards VR, less than one-third have used it in their academic settings. The gradual incorporation of VR in the existing teaching modalities by Ugandan medical schools could create better learning environments and skill acquisition for HPS to produce more competent healthcare professionals.