• Daniel Dubinski, Sae-Yeon Won, Constantin Hardung, Artem Rafaelian, Kaja Paschke, Milos Arsenovic, Bedjan Behmanesh, Matthias Schneider, Thomas M Freiman, Florian Gessler, and Bernd Romeike.
• Department of Neurosurgery, University Medicine Rostock, Rostock, Germany. Electronic address: danieldubinski@gmail.com.
• World Neurosurg. 2024 Dec 19: 123523123523.

ObjectiveAlthough the operating theatre offers unique didactic opportunities, it can be perceived as an uncomfortable environment by medical students due to the lack of theatre etiquette, time pressure and parallel work of different disciplines. We investigated whether virtual reality (VR) training can significantly reduce some of these fears and improve surgical education for medical students.MethodsWe randomly divided a group of 24 medical students and investigated the effects of a VR application (digitally recreated operating theatre tour) and compared it with currently-in-use written instructions for operational tasks in the operating theatre. The parameters analyzed in this study included timekeeping, orientation, and the error rate.ResultsMedical students who received a preparational VR training for tasks in the operating theatre showed a statistically significant lower rate of getting stuck (P < 0.03), time to find the operation room (P < 0.01), correct gowning (P < 0.05) and better identification of surgical equipment (P < 0.01). The use of a digitally reconstructed operating theatre using VR led to a significant improvement in orientation and error rate in the behavior of medical students in the operating theatre.ConclusionsRoutine VR use as part of clinical training could be beneficial in future medical education.Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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