Virtual Reality for Training Emergency Medical Responders in Mass-Casualty Incidents: Evidence Synthesis and a Hybrid Implementation Framework

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-817-7_2How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Emergency medical services; Immersive learning; Mass-casualty incident; Simulation-based education; Triage; Virtual reality

Abstract

Immersive virtual reality (VR) can reproduce rare, hazardous, and logistically demanding emergency scenarios, but its educational advantage over conventional simulation remains uncertain. This structured rapid review evaluates evidence for VR in training and assessing emergency medical responders and health-professions learners, with emphasis on triage, decision-making, stress, retention, and implementation. PubMed was searched on 15 August 2026 for English-language studies published from 2019 onwards. Of 101 records, 31 underwent detailed assessment and 25 met the focused eligibility criteria. Controlled studies showed that VR was often comparable with live or manikin-based simulation and sometimes superior to lecture or written cases for triage accuracy, motivation, or short-term performance. One randomized crossover trial found higher 30-day knowledge retention than video learning, whereas several comparisons found no significant advantage. Observational studies support VR as an objective, repeatable platform for assessing triage, information transfer, and error patterns; stress responses were variable and cannot be assumed to approximate live exercises. Evidence remains heterogeneous, mostly educational, and rarely longitudinal. On this basis, the paper proposes a four-phase hybrid implementation framework that combines frequent VR practice with periodic hands-on and live simulation, explicit decision gates, instructor preparation, accessibility and data safeguards, and retention-focused evaluation. VR is best treated as a scalable complement rather than a replacement for physical simulation.

Copyright

© 2026 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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TY  - CONF
AU  - Vladimír Pustay
AU  - Martin Flodr
AU  - Drahoslav Vyšný
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/29
TI  - Virtual Reality for Training Emergency Medical Responders in Mass-Casualty Incidents: Evidence Synthesis and a Hybrid Implementation Framework
BT  - Proceedings of the SAFAR Scientific Conference 2026 – Building Awareness through Immersive Learning (SSC-BAIL 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 3
EP  - 14
SN  - 2667-128X
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-817-7_2
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-817-7_2
ID  - Pustay2026
ER  -