Current Clinical and Educational Uses of Immersive Reality in Anesthesia: Narrative Review

The concept of immersive reality (IR), an umbrella term that encompasses virtual reality, augmented reality, and mixed reality, has been established within the health care realm as a potentially valuable tool with numerous applications in both medical education and patient care.

This review aimed to introduce anesthesiologists to the emerging and rapidly evolving literature on IR, its use in anesthesia education, and its transferability into the clinical context.

A review of the relevant literature was conducted using the PubMed database from inception to July 5, 2023. Additional references were identified from the reference lists of selected papers.

A total of 51 papers related to the use of IR in anesthesia medical education (including both technical and nontechnical skills) and 63 papers related to applications in clinical practice (eg, preprocedure planning, patient education, and pain management) were included. We present evidence supporting the use of IR in the training and clinical practice of modern anesthesiologists.

IR is useful for a variety of applications in anesthesia medical education and has potential advantages over existing simulation approaches. Similarly, IR has demonstrated potential improvements in patient care across several clinical contexts relevant to practicing anesthesiologists. However, many applications remain in the early stages of development, and robust trials are urgently needed to confirm clinical or educational effectiveness and to assess mechanisms, educational validity, and cost-effectiveness.