Rethinking interaction design - special implications for interaction concepts in medical education using virtual reality

Abstract This study investigates the impact of hand representation in virtual reality based medical education on user behaviour, with a particular focus on medical teaching objectives and navigation within the scenario. In VR it is common to adapt established concepts from other disciplines. One way of representing the hands in VR is to follow common design concepts and stay within a colour scheme that includes all interaction elements. In a medical context, this can lead to the hands not being perceived as “naked” and raises the question of whether important hygienic routines for protecting oneself and others are not being performed. A randomised, double-centre trial was conducted with medical students from the University of Münster and the University of Saarland. Participants were assigned to one of two virtual hand representations - realistic or artificial (green). The study assessed students’ performance in a VR-based skin cancer screening simulation, focusing on their adherence to hygiene protocols and subjective experiences of presence and embodiment. No significant differences were found in perceived embodiment between the two hand variants. While realistic hands significantly improved the frequency of glove use, artificial hands had a small positive effect on initial navigation. No significant differences were found in door closing and hand disinfection behaviours. Participants subjectively preferred the realistic hands for future VR-based scenarios. The use of realistic hand representation seems to have an advantage for training hand-related routines in medicine, while the use of interaction-friendly design facilitates navigation for learners. Depending on the use case of new applications and intended learning outcomes, these findings should be taken into account when developing new applications. Close interdisciplinary collaboration in development is highly relevant in order to identify and address such distinctive requirements.