ArticleBMJ open quality2024
Virtual reality technology for surgical learning: qualitative outcomes of the first virtual reality training course for emergency and essential surgery delivered by a UK-Uganda partnership.
Article in BMJ open quality, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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
17 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Acceptance and use of extended reality in surgical training: an umbrella review.Systematic reviews · 2024Pooled it
- Evaluating the Impact of Virtual Reality on Orthopedic Trauma Skills Acquisition Among Surgical Residents: Randomized Crossover Study.JMIR perioperative medicine · 2026Trial
- Global challenges and perspectives in acute and emergency general surgery in low and middle-income countries: a scoping review.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Development and impact of virtual reality-based training for the radial forearm free flap: A multi-center prospective feasibility study.JPRAS open · 2026Article
- Harnessing the power of virtual reality technology to enhance public health genomics skills in Africa.Nature communications · 2026Review
- SomaVR: A low-cost virtual reality platform and implementation framework for medical education in resource-limited settings.PLOS digital health · 2026Article
- Pathways, outputs and impact of NIH-supported bioinformatics and genomics graduate trainees in Africa.Briefings in bioinformatics · 2026Review
- Review
- The impact of online teaching curricula on undergraduate basic surgical skills acquisition.Surgery open science · 2025Article
- The role of remote and virtual surgical training in expanding cardiothoracic surgical capacity in low-resource regions.BMC surgery · 2025Review
- Development of an evaluation framework for robotic total mesorectal excision videos: a review and comparison of medical professional and public video resources.International journal of colorectal disease · 2025Review
- Digital twins for the era of personalized surgery.NPJ digital medicine · 2025Review
- Article
- Emerging technology solutions to support national emergency workforce capacity-building initiatives: lessons from Ugandan policy and practice.Emergency medicine journal : EMJ · 2024Review
- Virtual reality for patient informed consent in skull base tumors and intracranial vascular pathologies: A pilot study.Acta neurochirurgica · 2024Article
- The Ugandan sickle Pan-African research consortium registry: design, development, and lessons.BMC medical informatics and decision making · 2024Article
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe extensive resources needed to train surgeons and maintain skill levels in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) are limited and confined to urban settings. Surgical education of remote/rural doctors is, therefore, paramount. Virtual reality (VR) has the potential to disseminate surgical knowledge and skill development at low costs. This study presents the outcomes of the first VR-enhanced surgical training course, 'Global Virtual Reality in Medicine and Surgery', developed through UK-Ugandan collaborations.
methodsA mixed-method approach (survey and semistructured interviews) evaluated the clinical impact and barriers of VR-enhanced training. Course content focused on essential skills relevant to Uganda (general surgery, obstetrics, trauma); delivered through: (1) hands-on cadaveric training in Brighton (scholarships for LMIC doctors) filmed in 360°; (2) virtual training in Kampala (live-stream via low-cost headsets combined with smartphones) and (3) remote virtual training (live-stream via smartphone/laptop/headset).
resultsHigh numbers of scholarship applicants (n=130); registrants (Kampala n=80; remote n=1680); and attendees (Kampala n=79; remote n=556, 25 countries), demonstrates widespread appetite for VR-enhanced surgical education. Qualitative analysis identified three key themes: clinical education and skill development limitations in East Africa; the potential of VR to address some of these via 360° visualisation enabling a 'knowing as seeing' mechanism; unresolved challenges regarding accessibility and acceptability.
conclusionOutcomes from our first global VR-enhanced essential surgical training course demonstrating dissemination of surgical skills resources in an LMIC context where such opportunities are scarce. The benefits identified included environmental improvements, cross-cultural knowledge sharing, scalability and connectivity. Our process of programme design demonstrates that collaboration across high-income and LMICs is vital to provide locally relevant training. Our data add to growing evidence of extended reality technologies transforming surgery, although several barriers remain. We have successfully demonstrated that VR can be used to upscale postgraduate surgical education, affirming its potential in healthcare capacity building throughout Africa, Europe and beyond.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.