Assessing the Use of Virtual Reality as a Tool for Teaching Body Responses to Hypoxia in Pre-clinical Medical Education: A Mixed-Methods Study Focusing on Student Experience and Learning

Virtual reality (VR) has revolutionized medical education, yet its specific effcacy in teaching medical physiology remains underexplored. Conveying the complexities of physiological responses to hypoxia through traditional teaching methods poses logistical challenges, potentially hindering students’ deep understanding. This study investigates the impact of incorporating VR into pre-clinical medical physiology teaching, focusing on students’ self-reported 1) knowledge acquisition and understanding of body responses to hypoxia, 2) VR technology acceptance and satisfaction, and 3) overall learning experience. Methods: In 2022, an ANU Medical School teaching enhancement grant funded data collection to develop a comprehensive storyboard for a VR hypoxia simulation program. With support from the school’s Technology-enhanced Learning and Teaching team and the university’s Centre for Learning and Teaching, we created an in-house limited prototype focusing on key aspects of the scripted VR simulation program to test its feasibility and perceived usefulness within our MCHD program. The tool was integrated into a year 1 practical session, followed by a two-part series of data collection, comprising a questionnaire and video interviews. The questionnaire used a mixed-methods approach, including 5-point Likert scale closed-ended questions rating VR perceived usefulness and ease of use, and open-ended questions allowing participants to provide qualitative responses. Interviews delved deeper into users’ experience, interactivity, collaboration, realism, practicality, knowledge acquisition, improvement suggestions, and overall technology and learning satisfaction. Results: Although the implemented intervention did not represent the full range of features envisioned for the final program, preliminary findings from the first round of data collection via questionnaires (n=45/96) reported positive user experiences. Sixty percent of responses showed agreement (agree (n=22) and strongly agree (n=5)) that learning outcomes were clear and aided by VR. Qualitative findings revealed higher motivation to use VR for learning and an intuitive interface. Thematic analysis identified improvement opportunities, including enhancing hypoxia symptom discernibility and refining visual resolution. These insights will inform the next study phase, refining features to improve the overall learning experience and address technical challenges. Conclusion: Grounded in constructivist learning theory and technology acceptance frameworks, our findings leverage realistic VR simulations to enhance knowledge acquisition and understanding of complex physiological responses. We express gratitude to the hypoxia simulation development project team (Dr Katie Freund, Yili Peng, Dr Siddarth Iyer, Dr Benjamin Mead, Prof Kevin Saliba and Dr Suzanne Estaphan) for their exceptional contributions. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.