Introduction Medical school admissions are highly competitive, leading to high attrition rates, particularly among underserved minority (URM) students. Mentorship and clinical exposure are critical for the success of URM students, but limited access to these experiences can be due to factors such as time constraints and transportation barriers. Augmented reality (AR) has the potential to revolutionize medical education for pre-medical students by providing engaging and accessible clinical shadowing opportunities. This study aims to investigate the feasibility and impact of integrating OpticSurg’s Vision Beyond® AR platform into the educational experience of students shadowing the Emergency Department (ED). The study will focus on students’ experience using the Vision Beyond® platform and the potential strengths and weaknesses associated with the overall use of the device.

Methods The study included Hofstra pre-medical undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students of good academic standing and character all cleared to shadow in the Long Island Jewish Medical Center Emergency Department (ED), aged 18 or older. This pilot study explored the use of Vision Beyond® AR glasses, for remote pre-medical education. Students who were not present in the ED accessed medical teaching materials using de-identified resources available on the internet, such as CT scans, EKGs, lab results, physical examination findings, ultrasounds, and X-rays. No patients were involved in the study. The educator used the Vision Beyond® goggles to start a session and invited the students to participate through the Vision Beyond® website. Students utilized the interactive feature to indicate areas where they desired greater detail or explanation. After each session, students completed a survey to assess their experience, including demographics, system usability, ease of use for specific topics, overall impression, and the strengths and weaknesses of the platform.

Result Fifteen pre-medical and post-baccalaureate students participated in the study. Students rated the device on a 1-to-5 scale (1 = Strongly disagree, 5 = Strongly agree) for ease of use and learnability. On average, the ratings for these categories were 4 or above. The incidence of motion sickness and nausea received an average rating of 1.8 out of 5.

Conclusion The pilot program using OpticSurg’s Vision Beyond® platform showed promise, with students reporting a positive experience and finding the device easy to use. However, challenges such as internet connectivity issues and limitations of the AR goggles were noted. Future research should explore how this technology can enhance diversity in the medical field.

Categories Emergency Medicine, Medical Education, Virtual Reality

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This study did not receive any funding.

I confirm all relevant ethical guidelines have been followed, and any necessary IRB and/or ethics committee approvals have been obtained.

Yes

The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

This study was deemed exempt by the Northwell Health Institutional Review Board (IRB #: 24-0580).

I confirm that all necessary patient/participant consent has been obtained and the appropriate institutional forms have been archived, and that any patient/participant/sample identifiers included were not known to anyone (e.g., hospital staff, patients or participants themselves) outside the research group so cannot be used to identify individuals.

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I understand that all clinical trials and any other prospective interventional studies must be registered with an ICMJE-approved registry, such as ClinicalTrials.gov. I confirm that any such study reported in the manuscript has been registered and the trial registration ID is provided (note: if posting a prospective study registered retrospectively, please provide a statement in the trial ID field explaining why the study was not registered in advance).

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anasir3pride.hofstra.edu, (516) 800-5090

rnasir1pride.hofstra.edu, (516) 800-3437

daisypuca059gmail.com, (516) 647-1338

kevincharles543gmail.com, (516) 851-4784

jschwartz9pride.hofstra.edu, (310) 347-5258

ikaur4pride.hofstra.edu, (718) 747-4066

temesgen12tsigegmail.com, (781) 526-9404

tuopticsurginc.com, (916) 402-0306

lisaiyekegmail.com, (516) 353-2611

ljordan5northwell.edu, (718) 470-7501

mrichman1northwell.edu, (310) 309-9257

All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors.