Virtual Reality in Medical Education: A Concept Analysis

Virtual reality (VR) remains inconsistently defined in medical education, with the term being applied to heterogeneous immersive and nonimmersive technologies. This inconsistency may hinder intervention classification, evidence synthesis, curriculum planning, and technology selection. This study aimed to analyze and clarify the concept of VR in medical education. A concept analysis was conducted using the eight stages of Walker and Avant's framework. A scoping review following the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology provided the original documentary basis. A complementary concept-directed, nonexhaustive search was subsequently conducted to refine the defining attributes, conceptual boundaries, and empirical referents. Forty-nine sources were included in the original scoping review. Simulation, software/technology, interaction, immersion, virtual environment, and three-dimensional environment were recurrent terms in the analyzed literature. Eight antecedents and 16 reported consequences were identified. Skills-training and patient-safety needs were the most frequent antecedents, whereas skill enhancement, improved interaction, and increased knowledge were the most frequently reported consequences. Comparison with the complementary conceptual literature identified five defining attributes: a predominantly computer-generated environment, three-dimensional spatial organization, navigation or change in perspective, active interaction, and real-time system responsiveness. Immersion and presence were interpreted as variable characteristics rather than universal binary requirements. A model case, a borderline case, an opposite case, and empirical referents were developed. VR in medical education is a simulation technology that enables learners to navigate or interact with real-time system responsiveness within a predominantly computer-generated three-dimensional spatial environment for educational purposes. The proposed attributes and empirical referents may support more consistent classification, reporting, evidence synthesis, curriculum planning, and technology selection but should be interpreted as a contemporary and revisable conceptual synthesis.