Virtual Reality Training Module May Aid Infection Control Efforts
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
Medically reviewed by Drugs.com
TUESDAY, June 17, 2025 -- Users report positive experiences and engagement with a virtual reality tool that trains clinicians on core concepts in infection control, including cleaning and disinfecting portable medical equipment (PME), according to a study published online June 11 in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.
Esteban A. Barreto, Ph.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues developed and tested a virtual reality PME cleaning and disinfection training module. The analysis included 31 participants from three health care facilities who completed the first version of the virtual reality infection prevention and control module and semistructured interviews and an additional 44 participants using the revised module.
The researchers found that most participants in phase 1 reported an overall positive experience (74.2 percent). Participants praised the high-fidelity environment and the ability to interact with objects in the space, while 29 percent reported negative physical sensations (headaches, eye strain, dizziness, nausea) and challenges with blurry vision (54.8 percent). More than one-third of participants reported fear related to the inability to see their surroundings (38.7 percent) and difficulty with the handheld controllers (38.7 percent). Half of participants (51.6 percent) found the module instructions unclear. Based on the results from the first version, modifications were made, and in phase 2, 88.6 percent of participants reported an overall positive experience. While roughly half still reported negative physical sensations (45.5 percent), fewer participants reported module challenges, including transporting PME, glove interactions, and understanding instructions.
"Devices such as blood pressure cuffs, glucometers, and portable imaging machines are everywhere in health care, and study after study has shown health care is failing at cleaning and disinfecting them, leading to risk of health care-associated infections," senior author Erica S. Shenoy, M.D., Ph.D., also from Massachusetts General Hospital, said in a statement. "We know that when core infection control practices are correctly and consistently applied, the risk to patients is reduced; but we also know that the way we have been teaching these practices for decades is not delivering."
Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.
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Posted June 2025
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