Virtual Reality for Medical Education and Training

• Main Author: Al-Khalifah, Ali Hussain
• Published: University of Reading 2007
• Subjects: 378
• Online Access: http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.487478

Virtual Reality (VR) is having an increasingly profound impact on a wide range of disciplines, such as gaming, engineering, science, design, education and medicine, to name but a few. Medical education and training form the backbone of the medical field, however, traditional teaching and training methods introduce a number of serious moral, financial and technical challenges, which could be resolved or eliminated by the use of VR technology. VR has already been applied to medical education and training, but little has been done with regard to the application of immersive display technology in this field. The aim' of this thesis is to investigate how VR technology, and immersive display technology in particular, can be used within the realms of medical education and training from educational and medical perspectives. The work in this thesis has been structured around four key stages: review, modelling, application development and feedback. The review stage took the form of a study of related works with the findings, conclusions, recommendations and challenges that emerged being used to define a set of research objectives and questions. The modelling stage involved the creatiqn 'of the VREM ~irtual Reality for Education in Medicine) model, which describes the interplays and interrelationships between VR technology, education and medicine. The development stage focussed on the implementation of a number of immersive display-based medical applications to demonstrate the VREM model. Three types of applications were developed: collaborative interactive volumetric models for diagnosis; immersive open surgery simulations for training; and multi-model visualizations for demonstration and modelling. The feedback stage involved six studies to elicit views and opinions from stakeholders, including students, educators and medical professionals, in relation to the research questions complied in the review stage. In summary, the findings of this research have established a basis on which the different stakeholders involved in the virtual medical education process, including medical education administrators, medical educators, students, trainee surgeons, clinicians and VR developers can understand the role played by VR technology, and immersive display technology' in particular, in medical'ieducation. A number of papers based on this research have already been published in peer reviewed journals and conferences and others are in preparation.