Early Neurosurgical Education in the Era of Distance Learning: Incorporating Virtual Reality and Cadaveric Specimen Demonstrations

Background: Virtual reality (VR) has emerged as a powerful tool for neuroanatomy education of postgraduate medical trainees. However, its use in early training in neurosurgery, such as of undergraduate, medical, and physician assistant students, has not been evaluated. We also have limited insight into how VR may be integrated with traditional teaching methods.

Methods: We created the first-of-its-kind elective course on neuroanatomy for medical students incorporating lecture-style didactics, case-based VR activities, and cadaveric dissections. The course ran entirely remotely, with each student tuning into class with their own VR headset. We asked the students to self-report their level of confidence with the material and complete knowledge quizzes, which were compared in aggregate between precourse versus postcourse and pre-each session versus post-each session.

Results: Of students, 66.6% rated the teaching quality of the course as excellent and 33.3% as satisfactory. Most students (77.7%-88.8%) also described the course as having a positive impact on their training. On aggregate analysis, the cohort reported increased levels of confidence in their understanding of neuroanatomy (mean 2.75 vs. 5.4; P = 0.02), neurosurgical approaches (mean 1.25 vs. 5.7; P < 0.0001), and the use of VR in neurosurgery (mean 1.5 vs. 6.1; P < 0.0001). Objectively, the cohort also performed better on postsession assessments, a difference that was statistically significant at P < 0.05, in all but the first assessment.

Conclusions: Integration of VR with traditional pedagogic tactics is well received by the learners and contributes to measurable learning outcomes. Our experience informs the future use of VR tools in medical education.