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Medical Students’ Perceptions of Virtual Reality (VR) in Anatomy Education: A Pilot Study in Rwanda

This pilot study in Rwanda demonstrates that medical students highly accept and perceive significant educational benefits from using virtual reality as a supplementary tool for anatomy education, suggesting its feasibility as a scalable solution in resource-limited settings.

Original authors: Jean Robert Gatwaza, Isaac Rudasingwa, Nwalahnjie Anye Akumawah, Divin Jonathan Igiraneza, Ekom Monday Etukudo, Ibe Michael Usman, Victor Bassey Archibong

Published 2026-07-10

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CC BY 4.0

Original authors: Jean Robert Gatwaza, Isaac Rudasingwa, Nwalahnjie Anye Akumawah, Divin Jonathan Igiraneza, Ekom Monday Etukudo, Ibe Michael Usman, Victor Bassey Archibong

Original paper licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ✨ This is an AI-generated explanation of the paper below. It is not written or endorsed by the authors. For technical accuracy, refer to the original paper. Read full disclaimer

Imagine trying to learn the layout of a massive, three-dimensional city, but you only have a flat, two-dimensional map and a few dusty photos. That's how many medical students in Rwanda have been learning anatomy—the study of the body's inner workings. They rely on lectures and, when available, real human bodies (cadavers) to dissect. But here's the catch: there aren't enough donated bodies to go around, and the classrooms are getting crowded. It's like trying to teach a whole class of drivers using only one car.

Enter Virtual Reality (VR), the digital "time machine" that lets you step inside that city and walk the streets. A new pilot study in Rwanda asked: What happens when you hand a group of future doctors a VR headset to explore the human arm?

The Experiment: A One-Day Digital Field Trip
On a single day in Kigali, 25 medical students from four different schools gathered for a special workshop. They weren't just watching a video; they were diving into a custom-built VR world called MediXR. Think of it as a video game where the "characters" are your own bones, muscles, and nerves, and you can pick them up, rotate them, and see how they fit together in 3D space.

The group was a mix: 14 guys and 11 girls. Interestingly, more than half of them (52%) had never touched a VR headset before. They were total newbies to the tech, but they were eager to try it out.

The Results: High Fives and "Aha!" Moments
After their digital exploration, the students were asked how they felt. The answer was a resounding "Yes!"

Satisfaction: Every single student gave the experience a top score. The median satisfaction was 5 out of 5. It was a perfect score on the happiness scale.
Relevance: They felt the content mattered. The median score for how relevant the lesson was came in at 4 out of 5.
Learning: They felt they learned something new. The median score for how much they learned was 3 out of 5.

Here is the cool part: It didn't matter if you were a VR pro or a complete beginner. The students who had never used VR before enjoyed it just as much as those who had. The paper suggests that the "wow" factor of stepping inside the body works for everyone, regardless of their tech skills.

What the Data Actually Says (and Doesn't Say)
The researchers looked closely at the numbers to see if the VR tool was a magic bullet.

The Good News: The study found a clear link between how happy the students were and how much they felt they learned. If you liked the experience, you felt you learned more. Also, students who were already interested in surgery seemed to find the VR tool even more relevant and felt they learned more from it.
The "Not So Fast" News: The paper is careful not to call this a solved problem. It explicitly states that VR is a supplementary tool, not a replacement. It cannot fully take the place of the real, tactile experience of dissecting a real body. You can't feel the texture of a real muscle through a headset yet.
The Limits: Because this was a small, one-day test with only 25 people, the authors say we can't be 100% sure yet. They describe the results as "preliminary evidence." They didn't test if the students actually remembered the anatomy a month later; they only measured how the students felt about the learning right after the session.

The Verdict
This pilot study suggests that VR is a promising, fun, and effective way to add to medical education in places where resources are tight. It's like giving students a powerful flashlight to help them see the dark corners of anatomy that textbooks can't illuminate.

However, the paper doesn't claim VR is the final answer. It argues that the best approach is a "blended" one: use the VR to build excitement and spatial understanding, but keep the real dissection labs for the hands-on experience. The students are ready for this digital shift, and they want more of it, but the journey from a fun pilot to a full-blown curriculum is just beginning.

Technical Summary: Medical Students' Perceptions of Virtual Reality (VR) in Anatomy Education: A Pilot Study in Rwanda

Problem Statement
Anatomy education in Rwanda currently relies heavily on traditional lectures and cadaveric dissection. This approach faces significant scalability challenges due to a shortage of cadaver donations and resource constraints, which are exacerbated by the Government of Rwanda's goal to quadruple the healthcare workforce by 2030. While high-end digital solutions like the Anatomage table exist, their high acquisition costs limit widespread adoption. Consequently, there is an urgent need for affordable, scalable, and innovative teaching methods to bridge the gap between increasing student numbers and limited educational infrastructure. Although Virtual Reality (VR) has shown promise globally in enhancing engagement and spatial understanding, its specific effectiveness and reception within the context of Rwandan medical education had not been formally evaluated prior to this study.

Methodology
This pilot study employed a one-day interactive workshop format conducted at IRCAD Africa in Kigali on July 18, 2025. The study involved 25 undergraduate medical students purposively selected from four institutions: the University of Rwanda, Rwanda Military Academy, Adventist School of Medicine, and the University of Medical Sciences and Technology. The cohort included a mix of preclinical and clinical students, with 56% male and 44% female participants; notably, 52% had no prior experience with VR tools.

The intervention utilized a locally developed VR anatomy module by MediXR, focusing on the upper limb (bones, muscles, and neurovascular structures). The workshop structure included a virtual didactic lecture on the brachial plexus, followed by hands-on VR sessions where participants interacted with 3D models in small groups. Data collection occurred via electronic pre- and post-workshop surveys using author-designed Google Forms. The instruments assessed demographic characteristics, prior VR exposure, satisfaction, perceived relevance, and self-reported learning gains. Statistical analysis involved descriptive statistics (medians and interquartile ranges) and non-parametric tests (Mann-Whitney U, Kruskal-Wallis H) to evaluate group differences, alongside Pearson correlation analysis for relationships between variables.

Key Contributions

Contextual Evaluation: This is the first formal evaluation of a locally developed VR anatomy tool within the Rwandan medical education landscape, addressing a critical gap in low-resource settings.
Feasibility Demonstration: The study demonstrates the technical and logistical feasibility of deploying VR workshops across multiple institutions using existing regional infrastructure (IRCAD Africa).
User-Centric Data: It provides empirical data on student perceptions, specifically highlighting that high acceptance and perceived learning gains occur even among users with no prior VR experience.
Correlational Insights: The research identifies positive correlations between student satisfaction and learning gain, as well as between interest in surgery and perceived relevance, suggesting that aligning tools with career aspirations may enhance engagement.

Results

Satisfaction and Relevance: Participants reported high levels of satisfaction (Median = 5, IQR = 0) and high perceived relevance of the content (Median = 4, IQR = 0.75).
Learning Gain: There was a notable self-reported learning gain regarding upper-limb anatomy (Median = 3, IQR = 1).
Statistical Findings:
- No significant difference in satisfaction was found based on prior VR experience ( $p = 0.727$ ).
- No significant difference in learning gain was observed across the four participating institutions ( $p = 0.158$ ).
- A positive correlation was found between satisfaction and learning gain ( $r = 0.49$ ).
- Interest in surgery showed moderate correlations with both perceived relevance ( $r = 0.39$ ) and learning gain ( $r = 0.28$ ).
Qualitative Feedback: Participants described the experience as "transformative," "interactive," and "eye-opening." Key suggestions for improvement included extending session durations, incorporating more clinical modules, and providing faculty training for sustainable implementation.

Significance and Claims
The authors claim that this pilot study provides preliminary evidence that immersive VR-based instruction is a feasible and effective supplementary tool for anatomy education in Rwanda. The study concludes that VR can serve as a scalable solution to resource limitations, such as limited cadaver availability, without replacing traditional dissection but rather complementing it. The high level of student acceptance and the lack of disparity across institutions suggest that VR has the potential to standardize the quality of anatomy education in resource-limited settings. However, the authors explicitly note that these findings are preliminary; the small sample size and reliance on self-reported measures limit generalizability. They emphasize that larger studies utilizing objective learning outcomes are necessary to validate these results and inform long-term curriculum integration across sub-Saharan Africa.

Technical Summary: Medical Students' Perceptions of Virtual Reality (VR) in Anatomy Education: A Pilot Study in Rwanda

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