The goal of this randomized controlled trial was to evaluate whether Deliberate Virtual Reality (VR) training can improve surgical skills, knowledge, and confidence in performing postpartum hysterectomy among junior-level Zambian physicians in training.
The main questions it aims to answer are:
1. Can VR-based surgical training improve technical surgical skills in a real-world setting?
2. Does Deliberate VR training enhance knowledge retention and confidence compared to standard clinical training?
Study Design: Researchers randomly assigned participants to either:
1 Deliberate VR Training (intervention group): A 9-day VR-based surgical training program 2. Standard Training (control group): Conventional clinical education
Participants underwent assessments of surgical skills, knowledge, and confidence before and after training using objective structured assessment of technical skills (OSATS) and knowledge exams.
Key Findings:
1. The Deliberate VR group demonstrated significantly greater improvements in surgical knowledge, confidence, and OSATS scores compared to the standard training group.
2. VR training showed strong skill transfer to real-world surgical performance, suggesting that affordable and scalable VR training can help bridge surgical workforce gaps in resource-constrained settings.
This study highlights VR-based training as a potential scalable solution to strengthen surgical capacity in maternal health, addressing workforce shortages and improving equitable access to essential surgical care.