Mixed reality technology in fibula flap preparation clinical teaching application

Abstract

Objective: To explore the effect of the application of mixed reality (MR) technology in clinical teaching of fibular flap preparation. Methods: Twenty residents from the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery in School of Stomatology, the Fourth Military Medical University in 2018 and 2019 participated in the present study. They were randomly divided into two groups according to the method of random drawing. The teaching content of the two groups was fibular flap preparation. The MR group was taught by using the new teaching mode which was mainly based on MR, while the conventional teaching group was educated by conventional teaching method. At the end of the training, the theoretical knowledge and operational skills of the residents were statistically analyzed to evaluate the learning effect. Questionnaire survey was also conducted. Each item in the questionnaire was scored between 0 and 5, representing poor to excellent. Results: The theoretical scores of MR group (91.4±4.4) were higher than that of the conventional teaching group (83.3±3.2) (P<0.01). The durations of preoperative marking and simulated osteotomy in MR group [(5.7±1.2) and (20.9±2.28) min, respectively] were shorter than those in the conventional teaching group [(7.2±1.7) and (26.1±3.6) min, respectively] (P<0.05). The results of the questionnaire showed that MR group had a significant improvement in the scores of classroom atmosphere, satisfaction, three-dimensional construction, theoretical knowledge and problem-solving ability (P<0.01). However, there was no statistically significant difference in scores of learning concentration between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusions: The application of MR technology achieved a better teaching effect, which could help residents to deeply understand the methods of fibular flap preparation, and showed a broad application prospect.