Orthopaedic sport medicine surgeons and fellows value immersive virtual reality for improving surgical training, procedural planning, and distance learning.

Objectives: Overall, the potential utility of immersive virtual reality (iVR) technology in orthopaedic surgery is promising. The attitudes of medical students and surgical trainees on virtual reality simulated surgical training have been overwhelmingly positive. However, further research and understanding of the attitudes of practicing orthopaedic surgeons and fellows are needed to appreciate its benefits for clinical practice. The purpose of this study was to establish the face validity of iVR technology by assessing the attitudes of Canadian orthopaedic surgeons on the value of iVR for surgical training, clinical practice, and distance learning.
Methods: Forty-three orthopaedic surgeons and fellows attended an iVR demonstration at an annual orthopaedic meeting. The view and audio from the lead headset were cast to a large screen so the audience could follow the procedure in real time. Immediately after the presentation, the audience members were asked to complete a paper questionnaire assessing their perceptions and attitudes toward iVR for use in orthopaedic learning, clinical practice and distance education and mentoring.
Results: iVR was perceived to be valuable for the field of orthopaedic surgery providing face validity for the technology. All 13 questions were rated with mean Likert scores of five or greater, indicating a positive observed value for all 13 questions. The respondents indicated that iVR had value (score of 5 or greater) in each questionnaire domain, with agreement ranging from 78 to 98% for teaching and learning, 66-97% for clinical practice, and 88-100% for distance education and mentoring questions.
Conclusion: This study has demonstrated that a group of Canadian sport medicine orthopaedic surgeons and fellows had favourable attitudes toward, and perceived that iVR has value in, orthopaedic surgical training, clinical practice, and distance learning and mentorship. The potential for utilizing iVR technology for distance learning, mentorship and global education appears promising.
Level of Evidence: II.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests. Laurie Hiemstra reports a relationship with Smith and Nephew Inc that includes: funding grants, speaking and lecture fees, and travel reimbursement. Laurie Hiemstra reports a relationship with CONMED Corp that includes: consulting or advisory, speaking and lecture fees, and travel reimbursement. Laurie Hiemstra is on the advisory board (unpaid) and has stock options in PrecisionOS. Laurie Hiemstra is on the executive and board of ISAKOS and the Canadian Orthopaedic Association. If there are other authors, they declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
(Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)