Virtual reality focuses on simulating users’ physical presence within fully virtual environments generated by computational units, which users perceive as real through head-mounted devices due to their immersive and interactive nature as well as to the psychological and social aspects involved. Due to its nature, and the fact that the required hardware and software is becoming more widely available , virtual reality is being applied in various domains, including education, training, entertainment, industry, manufacturing, healthcare, etc.
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Specifically, its use in the field of education has yielded several positive results, including more engaging and personalized learning, better learning outcomes, improved learners’ affective states, and unique learning environments that promote experiential learning. Hence, the research surrounding its adoption in educational contexts is increasing as these benefits can influence several educational subjects, such as biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, etc.
Recent studies have indicated that by using virtual reality across educational levels and subjects, positive learning outcomes can be yielded , more personalized learning experiences and more engaging and interactive learning environments can be created [, and students’ affective domain can be positively influenced . As a result, meaningful learning can be accomplished .
Furthermore, given the capabilities of virtual reality to support learning, emphasis is being placed on how it can affect students’ knowledge acquisition and practical skills development. When appropriately designed following a student-centered approach , virtual reality learning experiences through immersive and secure learning environments where students can develop their skills, can be created. These immersive environments offer personalized and adaptive experiences according to the needs and requirements of each individual.
Virtual Reality in Healthcare
Studies have also disclosed the impact that virtual reality as a technology can have on the medical and healthcare domain. As a result, the interest surrounding its use in these domains is increasing. Recent studies explored using virtual reality in healthcare education, medical education, nursing education, as well as patient education , revealing the transformative and positive influence that the adoption of virtual reality can have.
Additionally, studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of utilizing virtual reality as a learning means to train healthcare and medical students and professionals as it can aid in them developing both technical and non-technical skills [29]. Moreover, a scoping review by van der Kruk et al. [30] highlighted the role of virtual reality as an effective patient education tool in healthcare, improving understanding and engagement.
Meta-analyses and systematic reviews by Kyaw et al. , Jiang et al., Kim et al. , and Liu et al. revealed the effectiveness of utilizing virtual reality in medical and nursing education, showing improvements in clinical skills, procedural training, and knowledge retention compared with traditional methods. Choi et al. further emphasized the impact of virtual reality on nursing education, particularly on fostering critical thinking, knowledge acquisition, and decision-making in simulated environments.
Additionally, Mergen et al. highlighted the increased adoption of virtual reality in medical curricula and made comments on the existing limitations that should be overcome. Finally, Abbas et al. defined and presented virtual reality in the context of healthcare while Liaw et al. highlighted the potential of multiuser virtual worlds to facilitate collaborative learning in healthcare education. These studies highlight the potential of virtual reality to enhance learning outcomes in medical, nursing, and healthcare education.
Research Gap and Aim of Study
Nonetheless, given the rapid advancements in the domain of virtual reality, there is a lack of a comprehensive bibliometric and scientific mapping analysis that synthesizes the recent and global advances in applying virtual reality across these fields. The need to examine this field through a more holistic perspective becomes more evident when considering that existing studies focus on specific disciplines or outcomes.
To address this gap in the literature, this study aims to provide an overview regarding the adoption and integration of virtual reality into healthcare, nursing, and medical education by examining the existing literature through a systematic bibliometric review. Hence, this study contributes to the existing field by providing a broader and data-driven overview of the most prominent research topics and areas and revealing areas for future research.
Materials and Methods
To enhance the transparency and reproducibility of this study and to ensure that relevant documents were identified, the PRISMA guidelines were followed. Given the broadly defined topic set to be examined in this study, this approach is deemed suitable to effectively identify, collect, and analyze the related documents. Bibliometrix was selected to analyze the related data; hence, the related guidelines presented by Aria et al. were also followed.
Based on the outcomes of related studies which highlighted Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) as highly regarded and suitable for review and bibliometric analysis databases, Scopus and WoS were selected as the databases to be used to search for and identify relevant documents. Another reason for their selection was that the data generated through these databases can directly be used in Bibliometrix without requiring manual modifications; thus, further increasing the reproducibility of this study.
As the main aim of this study is to provide a broader perspective regarding the use of virtual reality in healthcare, nursing, and medical education, the query used to identify relevant documents used generic terms to avoid limiting and directing the selection of documents identified. The query created was last used in May 2025 and comprised the following: (“virtual reality” OR “VR”) AND (“healthcare” OR “health care” OR “medical” OR “medicine” OR “nursing”) AND (“education”).
The query was used on the related document titles and abstracts and no initial restrictions were set besides the need for the studies to have been published from 2010 onwards. Additionally, limitations were applied afterwards based on the language of the document and the document type as only documents that were written in English and were published as journal articles, conference/proceedings papers, or book chapters were considered.
The steps taken following the PRISMA guidelines are presented in Figure 1. Specifically, 2609 documents were identified from Scopus and 1720 from WoS. Out of the 4329 total documents, 1557 were duplicates and were omitted. Hence, a total of 2772 documents were examined. Based on the data retrieved from the databases, 505 additional documents were removed. In total, 145 documents were removed as they were not written in English, 82 were conference proceedings, 35 were books or edited volumes, 32 were short communications/notes/letters, 29 were editorials, 6 were erratum, and 3 were retracted documents.
The remaining 2440 documents were further assessed for eligibility. The inclusion criterion specified for a document to be included in the collection was to primarily focus on the use of virtual reality in healthcare and/or medical and/or nursing education. Hence, studies that did not focus on these fields, focused only on augmented reality, or that simply mentioned these terms and had other primary goals were excluded. Following this approach, 2003 were excluded and therefore, the document collection analyzed consists of 437 documents.
Results
While the amount of research regarding the integration of virtual reality in health sciences education increases, this study aimed to provide an overview of the existing literature. This study followed the PRISMA framework and examined 437 documents from Scopus and WoS that were published during 2010–2025. The studies were written by authors from 54 different countries and were published in 243 sources with most of the documents referring to journal articles. An annual growth rate of 30.07% was observed and most documents were published in 2024 and 2023.
Additionally, the characteristics of the documents were examined, the most relevant sources were identified, and the number of published studies and their citations were analyzed. The affiliations and countries that contributed the most were identified. The United States and China published the most in this field and had the highest total citations, while studies from Australia had the highest average document citations. The collaboration network of countries was also examined.
Finally, the documents with the most citations were analyzed and the main topics were identified. Finally, the topic analysis revealed the following eight topics: (i) Virtual reality and immersive technologies in health sciences education; (ii) Simulation-based learning in healthcare; (iii) Medical and nursing education; (iv) Learning outcomes; (v) Psychological and cognitive aspects of learning; (vi) Clinical skills and competency development; (vii) Patient-centered and empathy training; and (viii) Emerging technologies and innovative approaches.
Discussion
Based on the analysis, virtual reality arose as an effective educational tool that can enrich and transform health sciences education, including healthcare education, nursing education, and medical education. Specifically, virtual reality can support both students and professionals through the immersive, realistic, and safe learning environments it offers where learners can practice their skills, patient interactions, and decision-making without risking patient safety.
Increased learning outcomes in terms of performance, engagement, clinical skills development, knowledge acquisition, critical thinking, and decision-making were observed. Virtual reality also positively contributes to students’ developing their empathy and behavioral understanding. The ability of virtual reality to be utilized in conjunction with other emerging technologies and support different pedagogical approaches was noticed. As virtual reality becomes more accessible and cost effective in terms of both software and hardware, its integration into health sciences curricula is likely to become more widespread.
However, some key challenges and limitations were also identified. Specifically, the outcomes of some studies are limited in terms of generalizability due to the variation in study designs and in measures. The sample size in many cases was also relatively small. This limitation reveals the need for future experimental studies to emphasize examining the long-term effects within large-scale samples. Few studies also reported students showcasing adverse effects, such as blurred vision, dizziness, and headaches. Hence, there is a need for further research into the usability and design of virtual reality experiences.
Another existing limitation is the lack of common evaluation methods and of unified design approaches and guidelines. Thus, more emphasis should be placed on developing suitable guidelines and identifying best practices and approaches in diverse settings. A lack of interdisciplinary and international collaborations was observed. Given the nature of the field, multidisciplinary perspectives are vital to ensure its effective development. Future studies should also focus on safety considerations, privacy and ethical concerns, reduced face-to-face interactions, and cost issues.
Given the implementation limitations and issues associated with the effective introduction and utilization of virtual reality in education, emphasis should be placed on developing robust frameworks and policies, creating rigorous assessment methods and tools, and refining pedagogical and curriculum design approaches. There is also a need for training programs on how to use virtual reality technology for education stakeholders to be created and for developing suitable and accessible educational material for virtual reality environments. Finally, emphasis should be placed on examining the impact of immersive virtual reality and non-immersive virtual reality, and on combining virtual reality with other novel technologies to develop intelligent systems to aid the healthcare system.
Conclusion
All in all, virtual reality has emerged as an effective educational tool for increasing learning outcomes across healthcare, nursing, and medical education. However, for its pedagogical value to be fully realized and its integration to become more widespread, the existing challenges should be addressed. As evidence supporting its impact increases, virtual reality is more than likely to become an integral part of health professions education.
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