Mixed reality in medical education: A study on bimanual pelvic examination

A key part of gynecologic education is the gynecologic examination, especially the bimanual pelvic examination (BPE). Many medical students feel unsure and unprepared when they do pelvic examinations. The present study focused on whether immersive mixed reality (MR) technology can help to improve training efficiency in teaching BPE. The teaching efficiency was assessed by students' performance, satisfaction, and motivation.

This was a prospective cohort study. We enrolled 120 students from the class of 2021 at Xiangya Hospital and divided them into two groups. One group trained with the MR gynecologic examination training system (MR + traditional group) and the other group used traditional teaching methods (tTraditional group). We accessed the efficiency of MR technology in teaching BPE through quizzes, surveys about user experience, and the Revised Instructional Materials Motivation Survey (RIMMS).

The RIMMS results showed that the MR + traditional group demonstrated significant improvements in operational skills and student motivation compared to the traditional group, with substantial increment in attention (13.1 ± 0.92 vs. 9.87 ± 1.29, p < 0.001), relevance (12.8 ± 0.84 vs. 12.2 ± 1.24, p = 0.003), confidence (13.0 ± 0.97 vs. 11.4 ± 0.95, p < 0.001), and satisfaction (12.8 ± 0.94 vs. 10.8 ± 1.08, p < 0.001). Results of the subjective learner survey shows MR significantly increment in useful for learning (4.15 ± 0.63 vs. 3.55 ± 0.57, p < 0.001), enjoyable (4.20 ± 0.61 vs. 3.60 ± 0.62, p < 0.001), engaging (4.13 ± 0.70 vs. 3.38 ± 0.64, p < 0.001) and recommendation (4.15 ± 0.61 vs. 3.27 ± 0.55, p < 0.001), while easy-to-use scores were comparable between both groups (3.48 ± 0.50 vs. 3.45 ± 0.50, p = 0.717).

This study shows that MR technology is effective for training medical students in BPE. It helps to increase engagement and motivation. MR technology adds to traditional training methods by providing a more interactive learning environment. Adding MR technology to medical training can significantly improve the quality of education for future medical professionals in BPE.