Virtual Reality Training in Disaster Medicine: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Disaster medicine (DM) training aims to recreate stressful, mass casualty scenarios faced by medical professionals in the field with high fidelity. Virtual (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are well suited to disaster training as it can provide a safe, socially distant simulation with a high degree of realism. The purpose of this literature review was to summarize the current use of VR or AR for simulation training of healthcare providers in DM education. A systematic review of peer-reviewed articles was performed from January 1, 2000, to November 21, 2020, on PubMed, Embase, and OVID. Exclusion criteria included non-English articles, computer-generated models without human participants, or articles not relating to DM, VR or AR. Thirty-two articles were included. Triage accuracy was evaluated in 17 studies. Participants reported improved confidence and positive satisfaction after the simulations. The studies suggest VR or AR can be considered for disaster training in addition to other, more traditional simulation methods. More research is needed to create a standardized educational model to incorporate VR and AR into DM training and to understand the relationship between disaster simulation and improved patient care.