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Could extended reality haptics be used in health-care education? A survey of health-care students, educators and clinicians

    • Cardiff University
    • University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    174 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    Purpose: This study, which is a cross-sectional survey, aims to investigate health-care academics, clinicians and students’ perspectives of health-care simulation-based learning (SBL) and extended reality (XR) haptics use within health-care education. Participants’ views regarding the application, barriers and facilitators of SBL and XR haptics were explored.

    Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted an online international cross-sectional survey of 178 participants.

    Findings: The survey found high health-care SBL use (n = 97, 55.1%) but low awareness (n = 48, 27.3%) or prior use of XR haptics (n = 14, 7.9%). Participants expressed interest in XR haptic technology emphasising its potential in SBL, particularly for understanding anatomy and physiology, enhancing clinical reasoning and consultation and practical skills.

    Research limitations/implications: Whilst there was interest in XR haptics, few participants described previous experience of using this technology in SBL. A large percentage of the participants were UK-based. Most participants were from a nurse or physiotherapy professional background.

    Practical implications: XR haptics is a developing technology for SBL in health-care education. Whilst there was clear interest from survey participants, further research is now required to develop and evaluate the feasibility of using this technology in health-care education.

    Originality/value: Health-care students, educators and clinicians views on XR haptics have not previously been explored in the development and application of this technology. The findings of this survey will inform the development of XR learning scenarios that will be evaluated for feasibility in health-care SBL.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)467-485
    Number of pages19
    JournalJournal of Workplace Learning
    Volume36
    Issue number7
    Early online date20 Aug 2024
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 10 Oct 2024

    Bibliographical note

    This author accepted manuscript is deposited under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC) licence. This means that anyone may distribute, adapt, and build upon the work for non-commercial purposes, subject to full attribution. If you wish to use this manuscript for commercial purposes, please contact [email protected]

    Keywords

    • Health-care education
    • Haptics
    • Simulation
    • Extended reality
    • Skills
    • Learning
    • Touch

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