Efficacy of virtual reality and augmented reality in anatomy education: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

• Published in: Anatomical sciences education 2024-12, Vol.17 (9), p.1668-1685
• Main Authors: Salimi, Sajjad, Asgari, Zahra, Mohammadnejad, Amirreza, Teimazi, Ashkan, Bakhtiari, Mitra
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anatomy; Anatomy - education; Augmented Reality; Education, Medical - methods; Education, Medical, Undergraduate - methods; Educational Measurement - statistics & numerical data; gross anatomy education; Humans; knowledge retention; Medical education; Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; student's attitude; systematic review and meta‐analysis; undergraduate education; Virtual Reality
• ISSN: 1935-9772; 1935-9780; 1935-9780
• DOI: 10.1002/ase.2501

Anatomy is the cornerstone of medical education. Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technologies are becoming increasingly popular in the development of anatomy education. Various studies have evaluated VR and AR in anatomy education. This meta‐analysis aims to evaluate the effectiveness of VR and AR in anatomical education. The protocol was registered in Prospero. Scopus, PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases were searched. From the 4487 articles gathered, 24 randomized controlled trials were finally selected according to inclusion criteria. According to the results of the meta‐analysis, VR had a moderate and significant effect on the improvement of knowledge scores in comparison with other methods (standardized mean difference = 0.58; 95% CI = 0.22, 0.95; p