Advancements in Virtual Reality (VR) technology have opened new frontiers in medical education, igniting interest among medical educators to incorporate it into mainstream curriculum, complementing traditional training modalities such as manikin training. Despite numerous VR simulators on the market, their uptake in medical education remains limited. This paper explores the acceptability and educational effectiveness of VR in the context of vaginal childbirth delivery training, with the simulator providing a walkthrough for the second and third stages of labour, contrasting it with established manikin-based methods. We conducted a large-scale empirical study with 117 medical students, revealing a significant 24.9% improvement in knowledge scores when using VR as compared to manikin. However, VR received significantly lower self-reported feasibility scores in Confidence, Usability, Enjoyment, Feedback and Presence, indicating low acceptance. The study provides critical insights into the relationship between technological innovation and educational impact, guiding future integration of VR into medical training curricula.

Attaining venous access is a common requirement for clinical care worldwide, with a non-negligible portion of cases often being categorized as ‘difficult intravenous access’. Such complications result in far-reaching consequences affecting clinicians and patients alike. We propose a mixed-reality-based vein detection and visual guidance system that provides several key advantages, including a wider field of view, flexible operating distance, and hands-free, intuitive usage compared to existing solutions. A semi-supervised learning approach was used in model training to circumvent dataset availability limitations. Quantitative evaluation showed that the semi-supervised approach improved vein detection performance and temporal consistency. The system was also implemented and trialed in a clinical setting to assess real-world usability. Initial, preliminary assessment of HoloVein by medical professionals in a clinical setting showed improvements in detection quality using the semi-supervised approach over the baseline model. This result was deemed to be promising from a clinical perspective and could set the stage for more widespread mixed-reality venipuncture guidance tools in the future.

Objective: To compare knowledge acquisition and domain‐specific feedback between virtual reality (VR) and mannequin‐based simulation for teaching medical students normal vaginal delivery (NVD). Methods: We conducted a cluster randomized crossover study comparing a novel in‐house‐developed NVD VR simulator utilizing an Oculus® Quest 2 HMD with the PROMPT Flex® mannequin. We randomly assigned medical student clinical groups to either VR or mannequin simulation. Participants took an 11‐item knowledge quiz before and after their first simulation before crossing over to the alternate simulation. Participants took a six‐domain, 14‐item feedback questionnaire evaluating both simulations. The primary outcome was percentage improvement in knowledge scores, while the secondary outcome was adjusted mean difference in mean feedback scores between each simulation. Results: Twenty clinical groups comprising 111 medical students participated. There was no difference in either arm for baseline characteristics and pre‐simulation knowledge scores. Medical students undergoing VR simulation had significantly higher overall post‐simulation mean percentage correct scores (79.0% vs. 54.0%; P < 0.001). The mannequin simulator had significantly higher feedback scores (61.0 vs. 58.3; adjusted mean difference 2.45 [95% confidence interval 0.95–3.95]; P = 0.002) and in five of six domains. A total of 40.5% of respondents preferred the mannequin simulation, 4.5% preferred the VR simulation, and 42.5% preferred a mixture of the two. Conclusions: Our novel VR NVD simulator was superior to traditional mannequin simulation in content delivery. As more respondents preferred a mixed approach over any single method, VR simulation could complement legacy mannequin simulation methods by serving as a primer or a distance‐learning tool and help increase skill birth attendant training.