Virtual reality-based medical education versus lecture-based method in teaching start triage lessons in emergency medical students: Virtual reality in medical education

Introduction: Epidemics such as the recent one, COVID-19, have caused a change in education and its methods. Virtual simulation is one of the types of technology used in medical education and related sciences. Virtual simulation provides practical and clinical medical education in a safe, cost-effective, reproducible, and flexible learning environment where students can practice over and over in a standard environment. This study was conducted to compare the effect of virtual-based medical education versus lecture-based method in teaching start triage lessons in emergency medical students in educational and medical centers affiliated to Birjand University of Medical Sciences Ferdows, Paramedical School, in 2020. Methods: This is a quasi-experimental study. All 44 students of emergency medicine registered for triage course participated in the study. They were divided into two homogenous groups which were matched based on their grade point average. The simple triage and rapid transport (START) triage course was taught in the traditional way- lecture based- from the beginning of the semester to the middle of the semester; then, the other group (simulationbased) was trained in the second half of the same semester using virtual simulation. Results: The students’ rate of learning was measured by their scores at the end of the course exam in both groups. The mean scores of virtual simulation-based education were slightly higher than those of the lecture-based education, but it was not statistically significant (P>0.05). The students were more satisfied with virtual simulation-based education than the lecture-based and the difference between the mean scores of satisfaction was statistically significant (P>0.05). Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that VR can effectively improve knowledge in undergraduate emergency student’s education, but it was not more effective than traditional educational methods. More experimental studies with a larger sample size are needed to confirm that virtual simulation-based education can more effectively improve knowledge in teaching practical lessons such as triage.