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Immersive virtual reality based on head-mounted display in medical education: a systematic review
Wei Zhang1,2, Ziyun Ding1,2, Maxim Bakaev3
1School of Medicine and Health Management, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
Introduction:
Immersive virtual reality (IVR) based on head-mounted displays (HMD), can construct virtual learning environments for medical education. This study aims to explore the application and effectiveness of IVR in medical education.
Methods:
This review followed the PRISMA guidelines and searched the databases of Web of Science, Springer Link, PubMed, IEEE Xplore, and Science Direct for controlled experimental studies published between January 1 2017 and October 1, 2025 on the application of IVR to medical education.
Results:
36 studies satisfied the inclusion criteria. Among them 34 reported significantly better objective learning outcomes and 29 showed more positive subjective feedback. The findings suggest that IVR is particularly effective in areas such as clinical surgery training, anatomy education, medical skill development, and nursing education. IVR demonstrates long-term effects in medical knowledge acquirement.
Conclusions:
The systematic review reveals that IVR is particularly effective in practice-based medical education. It highlights that VR demonstrates superior long-term knowledge retention and knowledge enhancement. A comprehensive evaluation of IVR use in medical education requires additional perspectives from teachers, and consideration from the dark side of IVR, i.e., technology-induced stress and time. Future IVR implementation in medical education calls for more efforts to address challenges in user adaptability, cost, privacy and regulatory compliance.
