Virtual Reality Surgery Training

While you’ve approached the technology of virtual reality (VR) through video games, slashing enemies and villains, the medical field has utilised this amazing new advancement for surgical education, cutting open hearts and brains. 

VR can be defined as a technology that creates computer-generated 3D environments which users can interact with, often including headsets and controllers for optimal immersion. This advancement is extremely beneficial for the field of surgery, where students and practitioners alike can utilize this virtual environment, which consists of almost identical replicas of a surgery, to teach and practice without ever worrying about bringing harm to a human. Prior to the innovation of VR, medical professionals who were in training to carry out surgery had the sole option of using cadavers, then observing and assisting experienced surgeons in the operating room. While said strategies are indeed effective and essential, surgeons are now not bound to these traditional options, and can now learn and refine their skills in a risk free yet immersive environment. Besides being mistake-friendly, VR also comes with benefits of being highly realistic, accurately mimicking real life, containing procedural variety and complexity, allowing surgeons to practice rare cases that may demand decades to master in traditional training, as well as the ability for remote collaboration, allowing surgeons around to world to communicate in real time on the same case. Another perk of VR is its long term cost effectiveness, allowing many medical education institutes to enjoy this technology.

But how well does this pan out statistically? Medical schools have recorded consistently positive results regarding the impact of virtual reality in surgery training, with some studies even showing that medical students trained with VR simulations completed a standard orthopedic procedure faster and with fewer redirections compared to traditionally trained students. Similarly, a trial comparing VR training to video instruction training revealed that VR training resulted in higher rates of accurate procedure completion, reduced time, and fewer errors. 

Despite the great advantages of using VR technology in surgical education, there are also some limitations awaiting to be resolved. Limitations of the use of VR may appear in older adults due to lack of acquittance with the technology, creating issues regarding the timeline for implementation of VR technology. Moreover, researchers cannot surely evaluate the accuracy regarding statistics about VR’s success, as the limited number of participants when performing a feasibility study as well as first operator’s unusually rich experience can lead to barriers in evaluating the impact on learning and skill development. These are all trivial matters, however, as the use of VR simulators is still in the process of being developed and is improving vastly day by day, thus its full potential is something only time can tell. 

Although not completely implemented in all medical educational facilities over the world, this phenomenon is indeed a reality in many places and a marvel of the surgical world to wonder at. 

Written by Renee Wang at Incisionary

APA References

Shingel, A. (n.d.). Virtual Reality for Surgery Training: The Complete Guide. Vention. Retrieved January 4, 2026, from https://ventionteams.com/healthtech/virtual-reality/surgery-training

Ntakakis, G., Plomariti, C., Frantzidis, C., Antoniou, P. E., Bamidis, P. D., & Tsoulfas, G. (2023). Exploring the use of virtual reality in surgical education. World journal of transplantation, 13(2), 36–43. https://doi.org/10.5500/wjt.v13.i2.36