Using Virtual Reality to Improve Medical Training

Enhancing Osteopathic Medical Education Through Cinematic Virtual Reality

As the U.S. population ages, future physicians must be prepared to care for older adults with multiple health conditions and complex needs. This study will test whether cinematic virtual reality (VR)-an immersive, interactive learning tool-is more effective than traditional lectures in helping medical students learn about geriatric care. Students who complete the VR training will experience realistic patient scenarios that show what can go wrong in medical care and learn how to apply osteopathic principles to improve outcomes. Researchers will compare students' performance on a clinical skills assessment and explore their experiences with the VR training. The goal is to determine whether cinematic virtual reality can better prepare students for residency and improve their ability to provide compassionate, high-quality care for older adults.

Study Overview

• Status: Recruiting
• Conditions: Urinary Tract Infection(UTI); Disability Physical; Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM); Delirium Confusional State; Geriatric Syndromes; Disability Hearing
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: Traditional Didactic Lecture; Behavioral: Cinematic Virtual Reality Training

Detailed Description

Background: The United States population is aging. With this demographic shift, more older adults will be living with chronic conditions and geriatric syndromes. To prepare the next generation of osteopathic physicians for this aging population, we need to provide training that captures the complexity of geriatric care. Cinematic virtual reality may be an innovative approach to teaching osteopathic medical students about the complexity of care in older adults. Prior research shows cinematic virtual reality's effectiveness in increasing empathy, improving attitudes toward chronic disease, reducing stigma towards disability, and increasing cultural self-efficacy. However, little to no research has compared the effectiveness of cinematic virtual reality to traditional learning methods.

Osteopathic Relevance: The proposed grant aligns with the American Osteopathic Association's mission by emphasizing the role of innovative educational technologies, like cinematic virtual reality, in advancing osteopathic medical education. Cinematic virtual reality is state-of-the-art training that offers an immersive and interactive approach to learn and practice clinical skills in safe, controlled environments, thus enhancing the quality and scope of osteopathic education.

Objective: We propose a two-arm, parallel designed, randomized controlled trial of a Graduate Medical Education (GME) Readiness Assessment with standardized patients to compare the effectiveness of a cinematic virtual reality training group to an attention control group (i.e., traditional didactic lecture). In addition, we will explore osteopathic medical students' experiences with the cinematic virtual reality training.

Methods: We will compare the effectiveness of the cinematic virtual reality training to a standard didactic lecture as preparation for a GME Readiness Assessment. The participants randomly assigned to the cinematic virtual reality training will follow an older adult with multiple geriatric syndromes, chronic health conditions, disabilities, and significant social needs, who is also vulnerable to elder abuse and neglect. The cinematic virtual reality training will show three interactions with physicians who can intervene, but do not, to prevent a bad outcome. The cinematic virtual reality simulations are designed intentionally to demonstrate what not to do in a medical encounter, based on learning theories which suggest that we are more likely to remember our mistakes than our successes. The visual content will be reinforced with a written curriculum addressing key mistakes while highlighting the integration of osteopathic principles, practices, and tenets. Participants in the attention control arm will receive the same written curriculum without the cinematic virtual reality simulations. After both groups complete their trainings, they will participate in a GME Readiness Assessment of an older adult brought to the emergency department for treatment of fever and altered mental status. All GME Readiness Assessments will be videotaped and recorded for blinded grading by osteopathic physicians not affiliated with the project. We will perform statistical analyses to compare GME Readiness Assessment scores by each osteopathic core competency between the cinematic virtual reality group and the standard didactic lecture group. Additionally, we will interview a subset of participants in the cinematic virtual reality group to explore their experiences with this new technology. We hypothesize that the osteopathic medical students in the cinematic virtual reality training group will record higher assessment scores on professionalism, patient care and procedural skills, medical knowledge and clinical reasoning, and interpersonal and communication skills compared to students in the standard didactic lecture group. If our hypothesis is supported, the cinematic virtual reality training may be an effective approach to preparing osteopathic medical students for graduate medical education.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Estimated): 100
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

• Study Contact: Name: Elizabeth A Beverly, PhD; Phone Number: 740-593-2524; Email: beverle1@ohio.edu
• Study Contact Backup: Name: Jennifer Gwilym, DO; Phone Number: 740-597-3056; Email: gwilymj2@ohio.edu

Study Locations

• United States
  • Ohio
    • Athens, Ohio, United States, 45701
      • Recruiting
      • Ohio University
      • Contact: Daniel Counts, MS; Phone Number: 859.433.2823; Email: countsd@ohio.edu
      • Contact: Jennifer Frithchley; Phone Number: 740-593-2101; Email: fritchlj@ohio.edu
      • Principal Investigator: Elizabeth A Beverly, PhD

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: Adult; Older Adult
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria: able to read and speak English, are age 18 years and older, and are a medical student enrolled at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine enrolled in the 2025-2026 academic year.

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Exclusion Criteria: unable to read and speak English, 17 years or younger, and are not a medical student enrolled at the Ohio University Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine enrolled in the 2025-2026 academic year.

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Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Traditional didactic lecture arm; Participants in this arm will receive a traditional lecture on geriatric medication that covers medication, mentation, mobility, what matters to older adults, nutrition and hydration, and the integration of osteopathic tenets into geriatric care.	Behavioral: Traditional Didactic Lecture; Participants randomized to the traditional didactic lecture will receive a lecture on geriatric care that includes medication, mentation, mobility, what matters most for older adults, nutrition and hydration, and osteopathic tenets.
Experimental: Cinematic virtual reality training arm; The participants randomly assigned to the cinematic virtual reality training will view 6 episodes about an older adult with multiple geriatric syndromes, chronic health conditions, disabilities, and significant social needs, who is also vulnerable to elder abuse and neglect. The content will cover medication, mentation, mobility, what matters most for older adults, nutrition and hydration, and osteopathic tenets.	Behavioral: Cinematic Virtual Reality Training; The participants randomly assigned to the cinematic virtual reality training will view 6 virtual reality episodes of an older adult, Mr. Chen, with multiple geriatric syndromes, chronic health conditions, disabilities, and significant social needs, who is also vulnerable to elder abuse and neglect. The content will cover medication, mentation, mobility, what matters most for older adults, nutrition and hydration, and osteopathic tenets.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Number of Participants with Passing Score on Graduate Medical Education Readiness Assessment	Participants will be asked to perform a comprehensive evaluation of the standardized patient, Henry Johnson. The case is based on a virtual patient case from the American Geriatric Society and the American Board of Medical Specialties. All participants will have 20 minutes to perform the clinical visit. The comprehensive evaluation will be filmed for all participants in the medical school's clinical skills examination rooms. Osteopathic physicians not involved in the study will be invited to score the videos of the participants' comprehensive evaluations. Graders will be blinded to the trial arm.	From enrollment to the end of the graduate medical education readiness assessment at 6 weeks.

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: Ohio University
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Elizabeth A Beverly, PhD, Ohio University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Beverly EA, Miller S, Love M, Love C. Feasibility of a Cinematic-Virtual Reality Program Educating Health Professional Students About the Complexity of Geriatric Care: Pilot Pre-Post Study. JMIR Aging. 2025 Feb 12;8:e64633. doi: 10.2196/64633.

Helpful Links

• This website contains the cinematic virtual reality training program.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Estimated): April 15, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): December 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): June 30, 2027

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: April 14, 2026
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 14, 2026
• First Posted (Actual): April 21, 2026

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): April 21, 2026
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: April 14, 2026
• Last Verified: April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: virtual reality, type 2 diabetes, geriatric syndromes, disability, elder abuse and neglect
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Urogenital Diseases; Neurologic Manifestations; Endocrine System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Male Urogenital Diseases; Urologic Diseases; Female Urogenital Diseases; Female Urogenital Diseases and Pregnancy Complications; Metabolic Diseases; Infections; Neurobehavioral Manifestations; Glucose Metabolism Disorders; Diabetes Mellitus; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms; Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases; Signs and Symptoms; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2; Urinary Tract Infections; Confusion
• Other Study ID Numbers: 25008897

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: YES
• IPD Plan Description: De-identified individual participant data (IPD), including GME Readiness Assessment scores and demographic variables, will be shared with qualified researchers upon request. Data will be available within 12 months of publication and remain accessible for five years. Interested researchers must submit a methodologically sound proposal and sign a data use agreement to ensure confidentiality. Requests will be reviewed by the study team for scientific merit and ethical compliance.
• IPD Sharing Time Frame: Data will be available within 12 months of publication and remain accessible for five years.
• IPD Sharing Access Criteria: Access to the IPD will be granted to qualified researchers who submit a scientifically sound proposal, agree to a data use agreement protecting confidentiality, and receive approval from the study team.
• IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type: STUDY_PROTOCOL; SAP; ICF; ANALYTIC_CODE; CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No