Comparison of Two Learning Methodologies: Virtual Reality and OSCE Simulation

Anesthesia education has evolved immensely over the past twenty years, and with the new virtual reality (VR) simulations created by SIMVANA, the exponential growth can continue. The anesthesia program at The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) currently utilizes an educational platform known as the Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) for their students’ clinical curriculum. With the development of technology and education models, the purpose of the doctoral project is to determine if VR simulation can produce more effective learning than the OSCE modules. To determine the effectiveness, pharmacologic lessons for intraoperative hypotension were administered through both platforms and then tested on the related topics. The study design that compared these learning models comprised fifteen first-year nurse anesthesia students, a pre-test, an intervention with the educational platforms, and a post-test for both quantitative and qualitative data. It was important to make sure that the recruited participants were similar in background, education, and prior knowledge of the sympathomimetic drug class. The quantitative data collected was conducted through several t-test evaluations representing a randomized clinical trial with a crossover design. Equivalency between participants was confirmed through pre-test sample means, and after evaluating overall pre-test and post-test means there was significant learning that took place. The crossover design revealed that the virtual reality produced statistically significant results, and these outcomes were compared to the OSCE model which was not statistically significant. Overall, both of the learning models did have a positive impact on the student’s learning capacity. Virtual reality, whether used concurrently or in place of the OSCE model, could be effectively used in anesthesia education for students and providers.