Abstract:

Virtual reality (VR) technologies have been widely adapted by various industries. In the past decade, the most frequently used VR technologies have been identified as haptic device simulators, computer-based simulations, and head-mounted displays (HMDs), in that order. The aim of this study was to examine how VR technologies are used in various medical studies and how their user experiences (UXs) are utilized accordingly. The study was conducted by reviewing 51 articles that were retrieved from PubMed. The results of the study show that VR technologies were mostly used in the medical education domain and also in healthcare treatment and engineering. Education and healthcare treatment practices used VR technologies the most, while engineering practices utilized VR the least. Ten components of UX were found in VR environments, where nearly all were rated as positive. Head-mounted displays were found to support the most UX components in comparison to computer-based simulations and haptic device simulators. The results of this study indicate that, in medical studies, there is an interest in VR technologies and their user experience. However, medical education practices show a high interest in VR technologies. Based on the results, some guidelines for the better development and integration of VR technologies in medical education programs are also provided. The findings of this study were expected to guide the instructional system developers toward a better integration of these systems into traditional education programs by considering some design issues and user experience (UX).

Keywords:

Virtual reality, user experience, medical education.