Trial reportJMIR medical education2026
Investigating the Impact of a Virtual Reality Experience on Medical Student Empathy: Mixed Methods Study.
Trial report in JMIR medical education, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Physician empathy is important not only for improving patient satisfaction and health outcomes but also for increasing physician job satisfaction and protecting against burnout. However, amid concerns over declining empathy levels in medical education, there is a need for innovative teaching approaches that address the empathy gap, a critical element in patient-centered care. Objective: This study aimed to use a mixed-methods analysis to explore the effectiveness of a virtual reality (VR) intervention versus traditional lecture methods in enhancing empathy among medical students. Methods: Overall, 50 first- and second-year medical students were randomized to either a VR intervention, which simulated patient experiences, or a control group receiving traditional empathy lectures. Both groups watch 2 videos with reflections gathered after each video to capture students' experiential learning. Empathy was measured using the Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Student Version before and after the intervention. Results: Quantitative analysis revealed significant increases in empathy scores post intervention for both groups (lecture group: mean increase 4.71, SD 11.01; VR group: mean increase 5.6, SD 10.02; P<.001), indicating that both interventions enhanced empathy. The VR group exhibited a significant difference in qualitative empathy coding after the second video (U=165.5; P<.001) compared to the lecture group. Qualitative feedback from the VR group emphasized a more profound emotional and cognitive engagement with the patient perspective than the lecture group. Conclusions: This study supports the integration of VR into medical education as a complementary approach to traditional teaching methods for empathy training. VR immersion provides a valuable platform for students to develop a deeper, more nuanced understanding of empathy. These findings advocate for further exploration into VR's long-term impact on empathy in clinical practice.
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