A Comparative Study of Traditional Technique Guide versus Virtual Reality in Orthopedic Trauma Training

BACKGROUND: Medical and surgical education is an expansive field fraught with many challenges. Technology such as virtual reality could be a new venue that can offer a solution to improve surgical training. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this prospective, blinded study was to evaluate virtual reality as a training model for orthopedic surgery and surgical training at large. METHODS: Fourth-year medical students with novice skills volunteered to participate in this observer-blinded 1:1 randomized controlled trial. They had no prior experience in tibia intramedullary nail (IMN) surgery. They were randomized into traditional technique guide education and virtual reality. The participants were timed on their mock surgery, and a blinded observer was utilized to subjectively grade their performance throughout the procedure using the Global Assessment 5-point Rating Scale and Procedure-Specific Checklist. RESULTS: Thirty-eight participants were recruited and randomized into virtual reality (19) and traditional (19) groups. There were trends in all categories favoring the virtual reality group. The VR group had improved time to completion (9.6 minutes vs 12.2 minutes, P = 0.034) and reduced need for corrections within the mock procedure (2.2 vs 2.5; P = 0.05). CONCLUSION: Virtual reality training was more effective than traditional training in learning and completing the steps of the tibia IMN surgery for novice medical students. Virtual reality training may be a useful method to augment orthopedic education and surgical training.