The DREAM-VR Study: Does a Virtual Reality Tool Help Dental Students Master Acute Medical Emergencies Better?

The DREAM-VR Study: Dental Students' Readiness for Emergency Assessment and Management Through Virtual Reality

The goal of this prospective educational cross-over study is to compare the competency and self-reported confidence in managing acute medical emergencies in fourth year dental students at the Academic Centre for Dentistry (ACTA) after training with a Virtual Reality (VR) training tool. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Do students who were trained with the VR tool perform better or equally good as students who were trained with a traditional training, in managing acute medical emergencies?
• Do students who were trained with the VR tool score higher in self-reported confidence scores? Researchers will compare the group who trained with the VR tool with a group who received a traditional training with a mannikin to see if students from one of these methods performs better at a clinical exam in managing an acute emergency that is played by a trained actor. They will also be compared with themselves, since after 4 weeks the groups will be crossed-over and will receive the other training with different clinical scenarios.

Half of the participants will

• In week 1-4:

• Play a VR scenario and watch peer students play other VR scenario's

• Fill out a written peer-feedback form and discuss this with peers

• Fill out 3 short online questionnairs, before the training, just before the formative clinical exam and just after the formative clinical exam

• Participate in a formative clinical exam with a trained actor

• In week 5-8:

• Play a scenario with a mannikin and watch peer students play other scenario's*

• Fill out a written peer-feedback form and discuss this with peers

• Fill out 2 short online questionnairs, just before the summative clinical exam and just after the summative clinical exam

• Participate in a summative clinical exam with a trained actor* The other half of the participants will participate in the same protocol, but in the reverse order. They start with the traditional training with a mannikin in week 1-4 and cross-over to VR in week 5-8.

  • The training program with a mannikin and the summative clinical exam is part of the regular curriculum.

Inclusion Criteria:

• 4th year dental students at ACTA who participate in the course Medical Dental Interaction in september-october 2026

Exclusion Criteria:

• students who experience severe side-effects of the VR tool, such as severe dizziness, nausea or headche
• students who do not provide informed consent