Relationship Between Demographic and Social Variables and Performance in Virtual Reality in Healthcare Personnel: An Observational Study (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Virtual reality is emerging as an important component of medical education. Although the benefits of virtual reality are apparent, the optimal strategy to orient to or differentiate learners in the virtual space have not been delineated. OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationships between demographic variables, social variables, and self-perceived comfort with technology to performance on a standardized non-medical virtual reality experience. METHODS This prospective observational study was performed at the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare in January 2022. This conference includes medical and non-medical attendees. Participants provided demographic information and participated in a scored non-medical VR experience. Participants then completed a System Usability Index and NASA Task Load Index form. RESULTS 95 participants were included in final analysis. 55 (57.9%) of participants had prior virtual reality experience. Higher scores were associated with younger age (11.09, p<0.001), identifying as male (11.09, p<0.001), and a higher frequency of playing video games in the past (18.96, p<0.001). The high score group was more likely to report comfort with virtual reality (6.29, p=0.003) as well as comfort with new technology (4.61, p=0.012). NASA Task Load Index scores trended down between score groups with System Usability Index scores trending up between groups. CONCLUSIONS An immersive virtual reality experience was well tolerated and enjoyed by our study population. Performance was most closely related to age and gender. Self-perceived comfort with virtual reality was more predictive of score than prior virtual reality experience. CLINICALTRIAL Not applicable