Efficacy of an Imaging Anatomy Virtual Simulation Experiment Course in Undergraduate Medical Education: Nonrandomized Controlled Trial

Background Human anatomy is the cornerstone of medicine. Currently, there is a lack of effective learning tools that can establish a correlation between 2D sectional anatomy and 3D stereoscopic anatomy and facilitate the conversion between the two. Objective This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of the Imaging Anatomy Virtual Simulation Experiment (IAVSE) course in undergraduate education. Methods This nonrandomized controlled trial was conducted with 102 third-year medical students from the 2017 and 2018 cohorts: 50 medical students who elected to take the IAVSE course were assigned to the experimental group, and 52 students who took the traditional laboratory course served as the control group. Primary outcomes assessed by teaching evaluation included the third-year human anatomy theory scores and fourth-year medical imaging theory, practical test, and total scores. The secondary outcome was a 7-item Likert scale questionnaire based on Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS (IBM Corp), with the independent samples t test applied for normally distributed continuous data and the Mann-Whitney U test for nonnormally distributed data. A two-tailed P <.05 was considered statistically significant for all tests. Results The results of the teaching evaluation indicated a statistically significant difference between the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group achieved higher scores in human anatomy theory (experimental group: median 85, IQR 84.25‐85.50, control group: median 81.75, IQR 78.13‐83.00; P <.001), medical imaging theory (experimental group: median 61.03, IQR 60.41‐61.53, control group: median 59.03, IQR 55.66‐59.53; P <.001), practical testing (experimental group: median 22.50, IQR 21.50‐23.00, control group: median 20.50, IQR 19.00‐22.00; P <.001), and total scores (experimental group: mean 83.26, SD 2.58; control group: mean 78.46, SD 3.76; P <.001). Student feedback collected via a Likert questionnaire also revealed significantly higher ratings in the experimental group across multiple domains, including enjoyment, interactivity, participation, satisfaction, learning efficiency, usability, and acceptance (all P value s <.001, except for serviceability, P =.02). Furthermore, the experimental group demonstrated a higher level of acceptance toward the virtual simulation course. Conclusions The IAVSE course effectively bridges the gap between human anatomy and medical imaging. It enhances students’ spatial understanding and academic performance and stimulates their learning interest. It thus holds significant potential for broader application in undergraduate medical education.