Immersive technology and hand hygiene: scoping review.

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Education Technology
• Medical Training Innovations

Background:

• The application of immersive technology in healthcare education is growing.
• Its impact on learner engagement and knowledge retention, especially in hand hygiene training, requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a scoping review summarizing existing studies on immersive technology for hand hygiene training.
• To identify the current state of research on virtual reality and other immersive technologies in healthcare provider and student training.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review was performed using the Levac et al. framework.
• Literature searches were conducted across multiple databases including PubMed, CINAHL Ultimate, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and ProQuest.
• Data analysis involved tabular and descriptive summaries, adhering to the PRIMSA-ScR guideline.

Main Results:

• Eleven studies from seven countries were included in the final analysis.
• Virtual reality was the predominant immersive technology used (90.91%) for hand hygiene training.
• Most studies (54.55%) indicated that immersive technology is beneficial for teaching hand hygiene, though theoretical underpinnings were present in only 18.18% of studies.

Conclusions:

• Immersive technology, especially virtual reality, shows potential to enhance hand hygiene learning and engagement over traditional methods.
• There is a need for more research incorporating theoretical frameworks and robust evaluation methods, including cost-effectiveness analysis.
• Future studies should focus on comprehensive outcome assessment to fully understand the impact of immersive technology in hand hygiene education.