Virtual reality‐driven skin checks may be a promising tool in dermatology digital education
V. Muralidharan, P. Pathmarajah · Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology · 2024
We read with interest the published JEADV article titled ‘New Horizons in Dermatological Education: Skin Cancer Screening with Virtual Reality’ by Junga et al.,1 which examines the integration of virtual reality (VR) into dermatology education for skin cancer screening. The authors successfully implemented a VR program whereby students performed a virtual, immersive total body skin examination. The study involved 140 student participants who were educated on the VR platform and then proceeded to perform a virtual reality based skin examination on a virtual patient, whereby they categorized nevi into benign or malignant. Their experience was assessed using various quantitative survey based metrics including the System Usability Scale and the Simulation Task-Load Index. Results showed that students rated the VR scenarios positively, valuing them as effective visual learning tools. Skin cancer screening is an important public health issue, and this study addresses that teaching students with innovative educational interventions and simulated real-world clinical cases emphasizes the importance of real-world clinical decision-making and uses a similar approach to research in other fields where VR has proven effective, such as surgery and emergency medicine. The study reports a notable improvement in students self-assessed competence in performing skin cancer screenings after the VR intervention. This aligns with other research that demonstrates the potential of VR to boost clinical confidence.2 In dermatology, where patient discomfort during live skin examinations can be a concern, VR offers a more consistent and accessible training experiences.1 The study's sample of 140 students is particularly significant, making it one of the largest in the emerging field of VR-based dermatology education. One of the major barriers to adopting VR in education is the high cost associated with acquiring and maintaining the necessary hardware and software.3, 4 While the educational benefits of VR are clear, scaling this technology to smaller institutions with limited resources remains a challenge. Future research should investigate cost-effective solutions, such as shared VR platforms, to improve accessibility. The study's reliance on self-reported data to measure competency is another limitation. While self-perceived improvement can be an important metric, it does not always correlate with objective measures of clinical accuracy.2 Additionally, VR environments may not fully replicate the tactile and interpersonal aspects of real clinical settings. Future studies should include objective assessments, such as standardized comparator patient encounters or peer evaluations, to substantiate the reported outcomes. Furthermore, studies must consider evaluating the potential adverse effects of VR technology such as cybersickness.3 Crucially, future studies should be inclusive of diverse populations. This study used a simulated Caucasian male patient, limiting students' exposure to melanoma presentations on skin of colour. Algorithmic biases in digital health technologies can lead to underrepresentation of diverse populations, which may result in diagnostic inaccuracies.5 Future VR simulations should include a wider variety of skin tones, body types and demographics to prevent exacerbating healthcare disparities. One of the VR's key strengths—personalized learning—can only be fully realized when it reflects real-world diversity. ‘New Horizons in Dermatological Education: Skin Cancer Screening with Virtual Reality’ makes a valuable contribution to the growing body of literature on VR in medical education. While the study demonstrates the potential of VR to enhance student engagement in skin cancer prevention, issues such as cost, self-assessment bias and potential side effects such as cybersickness must be addressed before the technology can be widely implemented. Importantly, future research should validate the educational benefits of VR through multifaceted assessment and explore its applicability across diverse populations to improve generalizability. The authors have conflicts of interests or disclosures. Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.