Virtual Reality: The Future of Healthcare Education
How we are taught has a huge impact on how we learn.
Approximately 65% of people are visual learners who process and retain information by seeing it.
As babies, we rely on physical manipulation and the senses to understand the world. According to Jean Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, to build cognitive abilities, a child must engage in a continual process of acting upon and transforming objects. The value of “learning by doing” continues as we age, whether by playing with LEGO sets, throwing a ball, or learning human anatomy.
Yet across the healthcare ecosystem, instructors predominantly rely on textbooks, two-dimensional anatomical diagrams, and cross-sectional anatomy to educate learners. This creates comprehension gaps, requiring a learner to take a 2D image and build a mental image of how the three-dimensional structure should look and operate.
And here’s where learning breaks down.
“Every student will build this 3D structure differently in their mind,” explains Clapp. “We cannot verify the accuracy of their mental image, which creates inconsistencies and inaccuracies in how information and concepts are shared and understood.”
Eventually, these limitations create a downstream effect in healthcare, with new healthcare workers unable to build the critical knowledge necessary for quality care before interacting with live patients – conducting examinations and performing procedures and surgeries.
Cadavers Aren’t the Only Option
While cadaver dissection is still used in medical training, many in healthcare education are starting to recognize the limitations of this teaching resource:
- Cadavers are difficult to prep, maintain, and secure
- An embalmed cadaver has a compressed organ presentation, making structural relationships appear different than what is observed in live tissue
- Cadavers don’t have the colors and fluids of a living body
- Exploring body systems can require cutting through, removing, or destroying body parts – creating a “one and done” learning opportunity
- Moreover, cadaver labs cost millions of dollars to build and have strict ethical and management guidelines
Given the costs, legal requirements, and safety protocols of running a cadaver lab, many schools have limited dissection access. That leaves the majority of health science programs without a relevant, substantive way to study and explore the human body. These programs include Undergraduate and Graduate Anatomy, Nursing, Dentistry, Veterinary Science, Pharmacy, Physician Assistant, and Chiropractic Science – the students also rely on the critical clinical reasoning and simulation experience necessary to become qualified practitioners.
A Virtual Solution
New studies suggest that virtual reality (VR) has the potential to become the most viable, practical tool to teach anatomy and to facilitate the use of accurate imaging data for clinical training. An extensive review of VR in healthcare education showed that VR could enhance comprehension by exposing the learner to immersive and experimental simulations. VR can also accommodate the diverse needs of learners in healthcare and provide a safe method to practice skills without any risk to patient safety.
“VR offers experiences no other technology can as users interact and transform data in true three-dimensions,” explains Dr. Tod Clapp, Colorado State University Associate Professor and Perspectus Chief Scientific Officer.
Regarding accessibility, VR is more cost-effective than cadaver labs and can be easily scaled. VR enables repeatable, standardized clinical training on demand. It can be easily integrated into any healthcare curriculum – remote or in-person. Furthermore, VR can meet the increasing demand for data-driven, visualization-based, experiential learning and personalized treatment in healthcare.
Perspectus: The Future of VR
Perspectus VR is a patented software platform that allows users to upload anatomical figures or actual patient MR or CT scans, then view and manipulate them in 3D (VR, AR, or MR). Instead of just examining a figure on a flat screen, users enter an engaging virtual world where they interact with the data from every angle. Images can be manipulated in any plane or enlarged enough to “walk through” to view from the inside.
The Perspectus platform makes learning and understanding spatial relationships more intuitive, stretching beyond the limitations of 2D images and single-plane anatomy currently available to students and the broader healthcare ecosystem. And compared to the exorbitant costs to build and maintain cadaver labs, Perspectus VR technology dramatically expands access to immersive education, enhancing education across more health sciences programs.
Compared to other VR platforms, Perspectus offers three unique advantages exclusive to its technology:
- Users can instantly upload any MR or CT scan to render the data 3D. Unlike competitors who model data with time-intensive engineering, Perspectus can support an infinite number of anatomy images using 100% accurate data from actual patient scans – making it the most precise healthcare VR imaging available.
- The patented “spatial recording” feature allows users to edit and record their VR sessions for later viewing, training, evaluations, and assessments – quickly creating relevant, customized VR content at a low cost.
- The collaboration tools allow remote users to share virtual space in real time to examine an image and review medical data. These tools create a significant advantage for remote education, healthcare research collaboration, and presurgical planning.
“We’re not interested in making things that are simply neat to play with,” says Clapp. “We’re creating tools that change how we understand, manipulate, and interact with data.”
Perspectus Improves Educational Outcomes
Perspectus is proving the impact of its VR technology on learning. A study of students at Colorado State University, where Perspectus has built the world’s largest VR student education lab, proved that student outcomes (even in a fully remote VR anatomy course) were equal to or better than that achieved in a fully operational cadaver lab. Almost 9 of 10 students (87%) reported that VR promoted their understanding of spatial relationships, and 8 of 10 believed VR delivered higher comprehension of structural relationships.
Because students can use VR to study and manipulate human anatomy in three dimensions, they can see how structural relationships influence system function and enhance knowledge. With Perspectus’ unique collaborative tools and multi-user capabilities, students can share immersive clinical experiences and learn from other students. Instructors can create groups and actively engage with participants (whether students are in the same room or across the world). Instructors can also upload actual patient scans, exposing students to real health ailments rather than idealized models that are hard to recognize.
“Perspectus is changing the way students, doctors, and researchers learn about and engage with medical imaging – and doing it in a way that’s accessible and affordable,” adds Clapp. “We have the patented technology and unique user capabilities to create shared, educational experiences that will dramatically improve the way students learn, physicians practice, and researchers validate.”
For more info, contact us here: https://perspectustech.com/contact/
Jawed, S., Amin, H. U., Malik, A. S., & Faye, I. (2018). Classification of Visual and Non-visual Learners Using Electroencephalographic Alpha and Gamma Activities. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2019.00086
Memon, I. (2018). Cadaver Dissection Is Obsolete in Medical Training! A Misinterpreted Notion. Medical Principles and Practice, 27(3), 201-210. https://doi.org/10.1159/000488320
Pottle, J. (2019). Virtual reality and the transformation of medical education. Future Healthcare Journal, 6(3), 181-185. https://doi.org/10.7861/fhj.2019-0036
