29. USING VIRTUAL REALITY HEART MODELS TO TEACH CONGENITAL HEART DISEASE TO TRAINEES

Introduction Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common human birth defect. Atrial and ventricular septal defects (ASDs and VSDs) account for >30% of CHD. Three-dimensional (3D) Virtual Reality (VR) heart models convey more spatial information than standard 2D drawings and may enhance a learners understanding of these CHD lesions. We hypothesized that using an innovative approach to teaching CHD anatomy and physiology, supplementing traditional didactic teaching with simulation of ASDs and VSDs in an interactive VR heart model, is both feasible and beneficial to the learner's comprehension and retention of CHD knowledge. Methods This was a prospective, blinded randomized-controlled, crossover study. Pediatric residents were assigned to two groups and completed knowledge tests before and after the teaching sessions. Each group received one-on-one teaching for the 2 CHD lesions: one with VR (interventional session) and one didactic only (control session). Group A received VR teaching for ASDs and lecture only for VSDs, while group B had the opposite. VR sessions incorporated a lecture during guided use of interactive VR heart model using the Oculus Rift TM. Control sessions entailed a didactic lecture supplemented by 2D drawings of the lesion. Residents completed demographic surveys indicating year of training, previous cardiology exposure, and Likert style learner satisfaction questionnaires to evaluate their experience with the VR intervention. To assess retention, the knowledge test was repeated 3-6 months following the study. Analysis of the average percentage correct and average change in percentage correct between the pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test was performed across the control and intervention groups to assess the efficacy of VR vs. traditional didactic education. We used the non-parametric 2-tailed Student's t-test to assess for statistical difference across groups. Results Of the 20 pediatric residents who participated in the study, 70% were interns. 15% had completed a cardiology rotation during medical school and 30% had completed a cardiology rotation during residency. Average pre-intervention scores were 22 +/- 17% and 31 +/- 8% for the control and VR groups respectively (p=0.38). Average post-intervention scores rose significantly across groups (p = 2.2 × 10-8) but were similar comparing control and VR exposures (83+/-17% and 93+/-8% respectively; p=0.23). Retention test scores were also similar across exposures: 67+/-11% and 57+/-21%, respectively (p=0.27). All residents rated the overall quality of using VR to educate pediatric residents about CHD as excellent. Residents were more likely to feel “very confident” after VR based sessions. Residents also described VR as an engaging educational experience that increased their ability to visualize and describe CHD lesions. Conclusions Using VR is an engaging and effective way to teach residents about CHD and results in knowledge acquisition and retention similar to traditional didactic teaching methods. Future studies with larger number of participants are needed to further explore the use of VR.