Mixed reality technology enhances teaching of spinal blockade procedures

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Interventional Pain Management
• Mixed Reality Technology

Background:

• Spinal medial branch nerve blocks are crucial for diagnosing and treating back pain.
• Traditional teaching methods for these procedures can be time-consuming and require extensive hands-on practice.
• Emerging technologies like mixed reality (MR) offer potential for enhanced medical training.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness of mixed reality (MR) technology in teaching spinal medial branch nerve blocks.
• To compare MR-assisted teaching with traditional methods regarding procedural efficiency and student satisfaction.

Main Methods:

• Twenty medical students were randomly assigned to either traditional teaching (Group A) or MR-assisted teaching (Group B).
• Assessments included blocking operation success, number of punctures, puncture time, and final error distance.
• Student satisfaction was measured via questionnaires evaluating teaching effectiveness, interest, and initiative.

Main Results:

• Group B (MR) required significantly fewer punctures (2.10 ± 0.74 vs. 7.40 ± 1.26) and less time (65.60 ± 22.02s vs. 297.80 ± 50.95s) (p < 0.01).
• Final puncture error was not significantly different between groups (1.96 ± 0.26mm vs. 2.24 ± 0.35mm).
• Group B reported significantly higher scores for teaching effectiveness, learning interest, initiative, and overall satisfaction (p < 0.01).

Conclusions:

• Mixed reality technology-assisted teaching is superior to traditional methods for learning spinal medial branch nerve blocks.
• MR enhances procedural learning efficiency and student engagement.
• This innovative approach should be widely adopted to improve training for complex interventional techniques.