Proceedings of the 2025 9th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2025)

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A Comprehensive Review of Virtual Reality in Medical Education: Strengths and Challenges

Authors
Mengji Li1, *
1School of Foreign Languages, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215000, China
*Corresponding author. Email: 2272870573@qq.com
Corresponding Author
Mengji Li
Available Online 12 September 2025.
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_9How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Virtual Reality in Medical Education; Immersive Learning; Anatomical Visualization; Cognitive Load
Abstract

Virtual Reality (VR) has been transforming medical education with immersive, interactive tools, but faces implementation challenges. This review synthesizes 30 studies from the databases of ERIC, Web of Science and Science Direct to analyze its strengths and limitations. VR enhances anatomy learning via 3D spatial exploration, outperforming textbooks in retention, and improves clinical skills through low-risk simulation. VR’s application in medical education also aids in interprofessional training, fostering collaboration among different healthcare disciplines. However, challenges include high cognitive load in complex simulations, cybersickness, and low anatomical realism. Addressing these challenges requires a multidisciplinary approach involving educators, healthcare professionals, and VR designers to develop effective teaching strategies. While VR shows promise as a supplementary tool, addressing technical flaws (e.g., cybersickness mitigation) and conducting large-scale, long-term research are critical for broader adoption in medical curricula. Suggestions are also provided for universities, teachers, and VR software designers, stressing collaboration to enhance VR’s potential. Addressing these shortcomings will contribute to more effective medical education and training technologies.

Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, 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 license and indicate if changes were made.

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Volume Title
Proceedings of the 2025 9th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2025)
Series
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research
Publication Date
12 September 2025
ISBN
978-2-38476-462-4
ISSN
2352-5398
DOI
10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_9How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2025 The Author(s)
Open Access
Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, 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 license and indicate if changes were made.

Cite this article

risenwbib
TY  - CONF
AU  - Mengji Li
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/09/12
TI  - A Comprehensive Review of Virtual Reality in Medical Education: Strengths and Challenges
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 9th International Seminar on Education, Management and Social Sciences (ISEMSS 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 67
EP  - 76
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_9
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-462-4_9
ID  - Li2025
ER  -