Medical Education in Metaverse: Strengthening Public Health Education

INTRODUCTION In simple terms, metaverse refers to a virtual world, which allows people to meet and interact with others and learn and experience new things, without leaving their place, generally with the help of digital avatars.[1] This virtual space is unique as it provides highly immersive experiences to the users (as they feel they are a part of the digital environment), interactivity (users can interact with the environment as well as with the other users), and provides a sense of social presence and belonging to a community.[1,2] This is executed with the help of virtual reality, augmented reality, and the Internet, and users get a wonderful experience where they can be extremely creative. Further, we must note that metaverse is often driven by the content generated by users, and thus, users can customize their virtual space.[1,2] MEDICAL EDUCATION IN THE METAVERSE IN PUBLIC HEALTH EDUCATION In low- and middle-income nations, access to health education has been variable for the general population, and the problem is further augmented in regions that lack healthcare facilities or have a problem of shortage of infrastructure or adequate number of trained healthcare personnel.[3-5] The next consideration that justified the need for metaverse in public health education is the fact that upon the integration of technology in different areas encouraging results have been obtained.[6] However, similar promising results were not obtained in the field of health education, as the integration still remains in the initial stages.[6] Metaverse plays a defining role in aligning the curriculum with recent developments. In addition, it also gives opportunities for practical training and field-like exposure to medical students, which adds relevance to the kind of training imparted to them.[7] Considering the potential challenge of keeping the students attentive in public health education, the inclusion of metaverse can aid in improving the attention span, promoting interaction among students and with the community, and providing customized support to students.[8] The approach of metaverse can also prove to be vital in facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration between different departments that are involved in educating the masses about various health topics.[7] The kind of educational experiences provided to students become crucial in augmenting the cultural competency of medical students, as it is extremely important in clinical practice.[6-8] In fact, the institutions that lack an adequate number of skilled faculty members, metaverse can bridge this gap and improve the quality of curriculum delivery.[6-8] POTENTIAL CONCERNS AND IDENTIFIED SOLUTIONS It is important to note that the inclusion of metaverse in medical education for strengthening public health education has its share of challenges.[9-11] To begin with, the incorporation of metaverse will essentially require financial investment to purchase the desired infrastructure and equipment for establishing virtual reality and augmented reality-related things in the institution.[9] This concern can be overcome by fostering liaisons with those institutes that are already having these technologies within their setups. Another option could be by developing mobile-compatible virtual platforms that require limited investment.[9] Further, we must understand that the mere presence of such applications and hardware in the institute will be of no use unless both students and faculty members are comfortable and familiar with the available platforms.[10] Faculty members need to be comfortable as then only they can integrate these tools into the medical curriculum. On a similar note, as students are the end users, they need to be familiar as well with these applications. This challenge can be effectively dealt with carrying out proper training-cum-sensitization sessions for every stakeholder and also promoting the use of user-friendly platforms with limited technical expertise to ensure better utilization.[10] The next major concern of using a virtual environment is related to the privacy, confidentiality, and the possible misuse of health information of the students.[11] This essentially requires the promotion of the use of anonymous data in such platforms and also the implementation of strict data protection policies and procedures.[11] There is a potential scope that such recent technologies are available for only those categories of medical students who can afford and thus the entire initiative will lose its significance.[10] This calls for the need to design metaverse platforms in such a way that they remain inclusive to students regardless of their socioeconomic class.[11] This accessibility issue can also be handled by providing some kind of scholarship to students to help them continue their learning. Finally, there is an anticipated risk that the inclusion of the metaverse can create a scenario, wherein there is an overreliance on the virtual environment that might compromise real-world practical experiences.[7,8] This issue of overreliance can be targeted by adopting a conscious combination of blended learning, wherein students also get an opportunity to do fieldwork and community-based learning activities. In fact, it will be even better if the planned assessments target both virtual and real-world learning objectives to prepare students for practical challenges in the field of public health.[6-8] CONCLUSION Metaverse in medical education has found immense scope and the same can be even extended to training medical students in public health education. This path of integration of metaverse in the medical curriculum will have its limitations; nevertheless, the adoption of a concerted approach with the support of administrators, faculty members, and technical team can significantly benefit medical students.