ABSTRACT
Virtual reality (VR) has become a viable means of teaching medical students clinical skills over the last ten years due to technological advancements and reducing costs. Over this time healthcare provision has shifted towards utilization of these technologies as clinical governance, patient safety awareness and cost efficiency become greater priorities of healthcare providers. In this chapter, we explore the application of VR in healthcare education, as well as whether it is more effective than traditional methods of teaching medical students clinical skills. VR at its current level of sophistication is likely to be at least as good as traditional methods of medical education for clinical skills. The VR in the current literature however is of poor quality and, as such, the potential of VR as an educational tool is not demonstrated. Rigorous, high quality studies are required to determine the efficacy of VR for teaching medical students clinical skills and encourage future investment by the medical education industry into VR.
