The effectiveness of virtual reality simulated
scenarios at improving medical students’ confidence and engagement in clinical communication: an observational cohort study
scenarios at improving medical students’ confidence and engagement in clinical communication: an observational cohort study
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Walls, Risheka
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background
Effective communication is a core component of medical training, yet opportunities to practise emotionally challenging conversations such as those involving distressed families are often limited in clinical placements. Virtual reality (VR) offers a scalable, immersive teaching tool that may enhance student confidence and engagement in communication skills training.
Methods
A prospective observational study was conducted with fifth-year medical students in their penultimate year of study at Imperial College School of Medicine. Participants engaged in a VR session simulating an emotionally charged conversation with an upset family. Pre- and post-session questionnaires assessed self-reported confidence using a 5-point Likert scale. Student engagement was measured objectively using the validated Behavioural Engagement Related to Instruction (BERI) tool. Statistical analysis was performed using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test. As there was no comparator group, findings should be interpretated as exploratory.
Results
Of the 109 students, 62 completed both pre- and post-session questionnaires (57%). A significant median increase of one point in self-reported confidence was observed (p < 0.001). Engagement was high, with minimal distraction events which were attributed solely to technical issues.
Conclusion:
VR-based clinical communication training resulted in increased self-reported confidence and was well received. This modality shows promise as a scalable, engaging complement to traditional teaching methods in medical education.
Effective communication is a core component of medical training, yet opportunities to practise emotionally challenging conversations such as those involving distressed families are often limited in clinical placements. Virtual reality (VR) offers a scalable, immersive teaching tool that may enhance student confidence and engagement in communication skills training.
Methods
A prospective observational study was conducted with fifth-year medical students in their penultimate year of study at Imperial College School of Medicine. Participants engaged in a VR session simulating an emotionally charged conversation with an upset family. Pre- and post-session questionnaires assessed self-reported confidence using a 5-point Likert scale. Student engagement was measured objectively using the validated Behavioural Engagement Related to Instruction (BERI) tool. Statistical analysis was performed using the Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test. As there was no comparator group, findings should be interpretated as exploratory.
Results
Of the 109 students, 62 completed both pre- and post-session questionnaires (57%). A significant median increase of one point in self-reported confidence was observed (p < 0.001). Engagement was high, with minimal distraction events which were attributed solely to technical issues.
Conclusion:
VR-based clinical communication training resulted in increased self-reported confidence and was well received. This modality shows promise as a scalable, engaging complement to traditional teaching methods in medical education.
Date Issued
2026-01-23
Date Acceptance
2025-11-27
Citation
BMC Medical Education, 2026, 26 (1)
ISSN
1472-6920
Publisher
BMC
Journal / Book Title
BMC Medical Education
Volume
26
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
10.1186/s12909-025-08384-0
Subjects
Virtual reality
Pedagogy
Student confidence
Digital health
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
126
Date Publish Online
2026-01-17