The Impact of Traditional and Virtual Microscopy on Students' Learning of Histology: A Comparative Study

Background and objective Traditional microscopy (TM) has been the sole method of learning histology in medical school, and it is associated with several drawbacks. Virtual microscopy (VM) is a modern technique of learning histology that allows more scope for learners to improve understanding of the subject matter and may, in this way, help to alleviate the inherent problems associated with TM. This study aimed to examine the role of VM in histology teaching and evaluate students' perceptions regarding traditional and modern approaches to histology learning. Methodology The study involved 100 MBBS students: 58 (58%) males and 42 (42%) females from the 2021-22 academic year at Silchar Medical College, Silchar, of the phase I MBBS curriculum, with at least 75% attendance in histology. Repeaters and students who did not provide consent to participate in the study were excluded. Both male and female participants were equally divided by random sampling into two groups: the TM and VM groups. A one-day intervention program on histology was conducted wherein both groups underwent histology learning through a didactic lecture on the cardiovascular system by an experienced faculty, followed by respective practical sessions: the TM group handled glass slides and a light microscope, whereas the VM group utilized digitized slides and a virtual microscope. The evaluation part of the study was performed in two parts: first part included histology tests, namely, multiple choice questions (MCQs) and objective structured practical examination (OSPE); in the second part, a questionnaire with six items on TM or VM was distributed to respective groups to assess the overall acceptability of the teaching method used. To compare the effectiveness of TM and VM, differences in mean scores of students' performance on histology tests and questionnaire responses were recorded and statistically analyzed by setting significance at p<0.05 with a confidence interval (CI) of 95%. Results VM students excelled in both histology tests (MCQs and OSPE), and differences in performance between the two groups were found to be statistically significant (all p<0.05). This improvement in knowledge gain and understanding may be attributed to the distinct advantages of VM as a learning tool. Differences in acceptability of either TM or VM in the respective group, calculated from the questionnaire scores obtained by students, were also in favour of VM (all p<0.001). Conclusions Based on our findings, VM appears to be an advanced and useful method for histology learning. Hence, integrating VM slides with TM could provide the best interface for histology learning and teaching. Most of the previous studies were merely questionnaire-based, prompting us to adopt a much more comprehensive approach by including both the questionnaire and histology test to provide newer dimensions to the notion of integrating VM with TM. Moreover, as our study is the first of its kind to be conducted in a medical college in Assam, we believe it will act as a template for many similar research studies in the future.