Scenario innovation of virtual reality in medical education: Possibility Advantages and Barriers
Authors: Liu Yuqi , Liu Yunlu 
Published: October 2023

The development of digital technology is profoundly transforming the practice of medical education. Virtual simulation is becoming the cornerstone of clinical education and training. With the increasing budget and standardized teaching pressure of universities and related medical institutions, virtual reality is playing a more and more important role on medical simulation teaching. VR can provide cost-effective, repeatable, and standardized clinical training for learners and educators as needed. The future of VR lies in its continuous integration with the curriculum and the technological development that allows the sharing of simulated clinical experience. It can achieve large-scale medical education without time and space limitation, and change the way of future clinical education. Especially in the context of public health crises, virtual medical training systems can greatly alleviate the shortage of professionals in medical institutions, protect medical personnel, and obtain a large number of well-trained medical staff in the short term. As a powerful and highly potential medical education tool, Virtual reality has attracted high attention from top international medical colleges and institutions. This study analyzes the scenario innovation of virtual reality technology in medical education through a combination of theory and case studies, summarizes the possibilities, advantages, and barriers of technology use, and provides reference for the development of related virtual medical education systems.In terms of the possibility of scenario innovation, the following five points can be considered: firstly, virtual reality technology can showcase the functions of medical devices and drug action mechanisms in medical procurement and marketing; Secondly, for doctor-patient communication, education can be provided to medical patients and their families, informing and explaining the patient's condition, surgical operation plan, and the role of "trial operation"; Thirdly, for rehabilitation training, it can help patients receive dual psychological and physiological treatment and rehabilitation guidance; Fourthly, for medical teaching, nursing teaching and clinical training can be conducted; Fifth, for medical science popularization, health knowledge popularization, promotion of healthy lifestyles, emergency rescue training, and disaster response education can be carried out. The advantages of virtual reality technology in medical education innovation mainly include the following three aspects: firstly, for learners, virtual simulation systems equipped with virtual reality technology make learning clinical easier with immersive experience; Secondly, for educators, it can greatly release teachers' time and space; Thirdly, for universities and medical institutions, it is allowed to provide simulated teaching with fewer resources and lower costs. The disadvantages of virtual reality technology in medical education mainly include three aspects: firstly, virtual simulation systems equipped with virtual reality technology are not suitable for all medical education scenarios; Secondly, due to its own technological limitations, the implementation of some teaching activities still requires human support; Thirdly, the system itself which provides a simulated learning approach still cannot replace expert educators.