SynthesisBMC medical education2023
Towards best practice in developing motor skills: a systematic review on spacing in VR simulator-based psychomotor training for surgical novices.
Synthesis in BMC medical education, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 26 citations in OpenAlex.
- Identifying Research Priorities in Digital Education for Health Care: Umbrella Review and Modified Delphi Method Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Distributed training vs. massed practice for surgical skills training-a systematic review.Surgical endoscopy · 2025Pooled it
- Acceptance and use of extended reality in surgical training: an umbrella review.Systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Trial
- A scoping review on the use of virtual patients for enhancing empathy in medical students.Medical education online · 2026Article
- Virtual reality applications in emergency nursing education: a scoping review.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Value of virtual reality integrated with multilevel team-based pedagogy in standardized residency training: a randomized controlled study with longitudinal follow-up in anesthesiology.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Twinning Initiative: A 7-phase Multidisciplinary Mentorship Model to Implement Deep Inferior Epigastric Perforator Flap Breast Reconstruction in New Centers.Plastic and reconstructive surgery. Global open · 2025Article
- The Feasibility and Test-Retest Reliability of Wireless Dry-Electrode EEG During a Dynamic Psychomotor Virtual Reality Task.Brain and behavior · 2025Article
- From static web to metaverse: reinventing medical education in the post-pandemic era.Annals of medicine · 2024Review
- Feasibility, Adoption, and Utility of Augmented Reality in Lumbar Puncture Simulation by Medical Students: A Pilot Study.Journal of medical extended reality · 2024Article
- The number of arthroscopies performed by trainees does not deduce the level of their arthroscopic proficiency.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveRepeated practice, or spacing, can improve various types of skill acquisition. Similarly, virtual reality (VR) simulators have demonstrated their effectiveness in fostering surgical skill acquisition and provide a promising, realistic environment for spaced training. To explore how spacing impacts VR simulator-based acquisition of surgical psychomotor skills, we performed a systematic literature review.
methodsWe systematically searched the databases PubMed, PsycINFO, Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection, ERIC and CINAHL for studies investigating the influence of spacing on the effectiveness of VR simulator training focused on psychomotor skill acquisition in healthcare professionals. We assessed the quality of all included studies using the Medical Education Research Study Quality Instrument (MERSQI) and the risk of bias using the Cochrane Collaboration's risk of bias assessment tool. We extracted and aggregated qualitative data regarding spacing interval, psychomotor task performance and several other performance metrics.
resultsThe searches yielded 1662 unique publications. After screening the titles and abstracts, 53 publications were retained for full text screening and 7 met the inclusion criteria. Spaced training resulted in better performance scores and faster skill acquisition when compared to control groups with a single day (massed) training session. Spacing across consecutive days seemed more effective than shorter or longer spacing intervals. However, the included studies were too heterogeneous in terms of spacing interval, obtained performance metrics and psychomotor skills analysed to allow for a meta-analysis to substantiate our outcomes.
conclusionSpacing in VR simulator-based surgical training improved skill acquisition when compared to massed training. The overall number and quality of available studies were only moderate, limiting the validity and generalizability of our findings.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.