The Effects of Virtual Reality Used in Healthcare Education on Cybersickness and Sense of Presence: A Systematic Review

The purpose of this systematic review was to present the current state of the science related to healthcare students' outcomes associated with virtual reality effects on cybersickness and sense of presence. Results of the database searches of MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, CINAHL, and Cochrane identified 101 articles. Seven articles were isolated for inclusion in this review. The primary search terms were "healthcare students," "virtual reality," "cybersickness," and "sense of presence." The studies were published between 2016 and 2020 and were conducted in Israel, the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Belgium, and Brazil. The research design was quasi-experimental in six studies and experimental design in one study. Interventions were mostly carried out with nursing, medical, and dental students. Three studies used immersive virtual reality simulation with a head-mounted display, while the others used non-immersive three-dimensional visuals. According to the results, students perceived a high sense of presence and a low level of cybersickness in virtual reality simulations. There is limited robust research exploring healthcare students' outcomes related to virtual reality on cybersickness and sense of presence.