Background/Case Studies: The use of immersive virtual reality (VR) in healthcare scientist training offers a promising solution to address key challenges in transfusion laboratory education. Ongoing staffing shortages, increasing workloads, and frequent laboratory errors highlight the need for innovative training solutions. Despite its potential, VR technology remains underutilized in transfusion science. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel VR training package for crossmatching red cell units, designed to enhance both theoretical knowledge and practical skills, and to compare its efficacy with traditional training methods.
Study
Design/Methods: 103 participants from 43 laboratories across England and Wales, with no prior crossmatching experience, were randomly assigned to either traditional training (control group) (n=51) or VR training (n=52). The control group received conventional face-to-face laboratory based training while the VR group used a new, purpose designed, NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT) Crossmatch VR application. Both groups were given five consecutive working days to complete a standard training plan under local supervision while continuing routine duties. Assessments occurred at four time points: pre-training (control n=51, VR n=52), immediately post-training (control n=51, VR n=52), one week (control n=37, VR n=38) and three months after training (control n=40, VR n=38). Data included knowledge assessments, Likert scale ratings for perceived practical skills and confidence, and observed crossmatching performance.
Results/Findings: Both groups showed improvements in knowledge and practical skills following training. No significant differences were observed in post-training outcomes between the VR and control groups (p >0.05). However, the VR groupdemonstrated a trend towards better long-term retention of knowledge, more accurate recall of procedural steps, and higher self-rated skills and confidence at one week and three months post-training.Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the ease of training leads managing the training alongside regular workloads (p < 0.001). 90% of training leads in the VR group reported positively on their ability to manage training, compared to only 18% in the control group.
Conclusions: This study found that VR training was as effective as traditional methods in workplace training for improving crossmatch knowledge and practical skills, and in some cases may indeed be superior. These results suggest VR can serve as a valuable supplement to traditional training approaches in transfusion laboratories. Future research may investigate other transfusion processes suitable for VR-based training and explore best practices for integrating VR into existing training frameworks.
