Assessing the impact of virtual reality on surgeons’ mental models of complex congenital heart cases

International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery · 2025-11-05

PURPOSE: Virtual reality (VR) has attracted attention in healthcare for many promising applications including pre-surgical planning. Currently, there exists a critical gap in comprehension of the impact of VR on physicians' thinking. Self-reported data from surveys and metrics based on confidence and task completion may not yield sufficiently detailed understanding of the complex decision making and cognitive load experienced by surgeons during VR-based pre-surgical planning. METHODS: Our research aims to address the gap in understanding the impact of VR on physicians' mental models through a novel methodology of self-directed think-aloud protocols, offering deeper perspectives into physicians' thought processes within the virtual 3D environment. We performed qualitative analysis of recorded verbalizations and actions in VR in addition to quantitative measures from the NASA task load index (NASA-TLX). Analysis was conducted to identify thematic sequences in VR which influenced clinical decision making when reviewing patient anatomy. RESULTS: We find a significant increase in reported physician confidence in understanding of the patient anatomy from before VR to after (p = 0.012) and identified several common patterns of 3D exploration of the anatomy in VR. Physicians also reported low cognitive stress on the NASA-TLX. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate VR has value beyond simulating surgery, helping physicians to confirm findings from conventional medical imaging, visualize approaches with detail, and help make complex decisions while mentally preparing for surgery. These findings provide evidence that VR and related 3D visualization are helpful for pre-surgical planning of complex cases.

WIP: Students’ metacognition and how it relates to their performance in conceptual problem-solving introductory Engineering courses.

2025-08-21

Instructional Benefits of a Web-Based Students’ Concurrent Course Registration Tool

2025-08-21

Topic Level Visualization of Student Enrollment Records in a Computer Science Curriculum

Education Sciences · 2025-05-16

Reviewing academic curricula requires a significant investment of time and expertise. Beyond accreditation, curriculum may be reviewed in part or in whole during other administrative efforts including the consideration of new elective courses, faculty-student advising, admission of transfer students, internal audits, and more. These activities often require multiple people with deep knowledge of the coursework as well as the discipline(s) involved to pour over scattered documentation and comparatively limited assessment data in order to make an informed decision. In this work, we explored the development of a semi-automated computational approach to visualize a curriculum as described in official course listings at a topic level of detail. We show how our approach can help provide a detailed view of how topics are covered across multiple courses and how these visualizations can show similarities and differences for individual student registration records, paving the way for personalized student support. We also identified opportunities for improvement in this method, including the need to develop more robust topic mapping techniques for short texts.

BOARD # 95: WIP: Students’ reflections on their attitude and how it affects their performance in a CS Discrete Math course.

2025-08-21

BOARD # 280: NSF IUSE: Improving Students’ Confidence in Choosing an Engineering Pathway

2025-08-21

Understanding the needs of students to make Mathematics and other STEM Contents more accessible in college Engineering courses

2025-08-21

Probing Challenges and Future Research of SBOM Generation for Medical Devices

2025-12-08

Threats to Patient Safety From Cybersecurity Flaws—A New Never Event

JAMA · 2025-07-07 · 1 citations

This Viewpoint discusses medical device cybersecurity vulnerabilities and the threat they pose to patient safety.

Promoting Teaching-Focused Faculty in Biomedical Engineering: Education Summit Highlights Best Practices for Professional Development

Biomedical Engineering Education · 2025-02-10 · 2 citations