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The following is a summary of “Virtual reality for assessing emergency medical competencies in junior doctors – a pilot study,” published in the September 2024 issue of Emergency Medicine by Keicher et al. 

The initial assessment of clinical-practical skills, particularly in emergency management, causes difficulties in preparing medical students for handling emergencies.  

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine the emergency medical competencies of junior doctors using Virtual Reality (VR)-based scenarios and to assess their preparedness for real-world clinical situations.  

They performed a study with junior doctors (0-6 months) in 3 VR emergency scenarios to determine their emergency medical care skills, which were estimated using a checklist, self-assessment, and a clinical reasoning test (Post-Encounter Form).  

The results showed that 21 junior doctors fulfilled well in general stabilization tasks but lacked disease-specific diagnostic. While 65.6% accurately performed the required actions, with no differences between scenarios, and attained 80.5% on the Post-Encounter-Form, exhibiting diagnostic solid decision-making skills. At the same time, self-assessments were not linked to objective competency measures. 

They concluded that VR based simulations exhibit a clear picture of EMC skills while highlighting the need to focus on complex case management. 

Source: intjem.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12245-024-00721-2