The DREAM-VR Study: Does a Virtual Reality Tool Help Dental Students Master Acute Medical Emergencies Better?

NCT07811349 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 1 other identifier: 2026-54154
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 140
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

The goal of this prospective educational cross-over study is to compare the competency and self-reported confidence in managing acute medical emergencies in fourth year dental students at the Academic Centre for Dentistry (ACTA) after training with a Virtual Reality (VR) training tool. The main questions it aims to answer are:

• Do students who were trained with the VR tool perform better or equally good as students who were trained with a traditional training, in managing acute medical emergencies?
• Do students who were trained with the VR tool score higher in self-reported confidence scores? Researchers will compare the group who trained with the VR tool with a group who received a traditional training with a mannikin to see if students from one of these methods performs better at a clinical exam in managing an acute emergency that is played by a trained actor. They will also be compared with themselves, since after 4 weeks the groups will be crossed-over and will receive the other training with different clinical scenarios. Half of the participants will
• In week 1-4:
• Play a VR scenario and watch peer students play other VR scenario's
• Fill out a written peer-feedback form and discuss this with peers
• Fill out 3 short online questionnairs, before the training, just before the formative clinical exam and just after the formative clinical exam
• Participate in a formative clinical exam with a trained actor
• In week 5-8:
• Play a scenario with a mannikin and watch peer students play other scenario's\*
• Fill out a written peer-feedback form and discuss this with peers
• Fill out 2 short online questionnairs, just before the summative clinical exam and just after the summative clinical exam
• Participate in a summative clinical exam with a trained actor\* The other half of the participants will participate in the same protocol, but in the reverse order. They start with the traditional training with a mannikin in week 1-4 and cross-over to VR in week 5-8.
• The training program with a mannikin and the summative clinical exam is part of the regular curriculum.

Conditions

Competency; Confidence, Self; Medical Emergency Calls; Dentistry; Virtual Reality

Keywords

medical emergencies; dental practice; virtual reality training; competency; self-recorded confidence

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (3)

• Competence in diagnosing and treating acute medical emergencies in the dental practice

  In week 4 the students will do a formative clinical test with a trained actor, who plays an acute medical emergency scenario. The topic of the scenario will be randomly assigned by drawing a lot. The students will be scored using a validated scoring table, that measures all the necessary steps in the DRS ABCDE protocol. They can obtain a maximum score of 80 when they do all the necessary steps to manage the acute emergency. Again in week 8 the students will do a summative clinical test with a trained actor. The topic of the scenario be randomly assigned. The students will be scored using the same validated scoring table. They will pass the test if they used the adequate diagnostic tools, made the correct diagnosis and communicated effectively with the ambulance personnel. The point score on the scoring table will only be used for research purposes.

  From enrollment assessment takes place in Week 4 and week 8

• Self-reported competence in managing acute medical emergencies

  Students will be asked to fill out 5 online surveys to report on their experienced sense of competence. The questions will be on a 5 point likert scale. T=0: before enrolling in the training T=1: just before the formative clinical test in week 4 T=2: just after the formative clinical test in week 4 T=3: just before the summative clinical test in week 8 T=4: just after the summative clinical test in week 8

  From enrollment until week 4 and 8

• Self-reported confidence in managing acute medical emergencies

  Students will be asked to fill out 5 online surveys to report on their experienced sense of confidence. The questions will be on a 5 point likert scale. T=0: before enrolling in the training T=1: just before the formative clinical test in week 4 T=2: just after the formative clinical test in week 4 T=3: just before the summative clinical test in week 8 T=4: just after the summative clinical test in week 8

  From enrollment in week 4 and 8

Secondary Outcomes (1)

• Effects of order and carry-over effects in the cross-over design

  From enrollment until week 8

Other Outcomes (1)

• Students' subjective experiences with the use of the VR tool

  From enrollment until week 8

Study Arms (2)

VR group

EXPERIMENTAL

Dental students that practice with a VR tool for managing acute medical emergencies

Other: DentEmergencyVR tool

Mannikin group

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Dental students that practice with a resuscitation mannikin for managing acute medical emergencies.

Other: Mannikin group

Interventions

Mannikin group OTHER

Students are told by the teacher that the mannikin is a dental patient that experiences an acute medical emergency, and what the patients' complaints are. The students can use diagnostic devices, such as blood pressure tool and oximeter, to practice. The teacher tells what the outcome of measurement is and the student proposes a diagnosis and treatment plan. They can give the mannikin test medication such as epinehrin or oxigen.

Mannikin group

DentEmergencyVR tool OTHER

Students are immersed in a virtual dental clinic. They see a virtual patient in the dental chair (avatar). The avatar can be controlled by the teacher to show signs of acute medical emergencies. The student can talk to the avatar, the avatar can talk back. The student can use virtual tools, such as blood pressure device, oximeter, etc. to diagnose the emergency and can apply virtual medication such as epinephrine injection, oxigen, etc. They can play 7 different scenario's: fainting, asthma attack, anaphylaxis, stroke, heart attack, epilepsy, hypoglycemia. They can call 911/112 to ask for an ambulance and can do a medical handover to the ambulance personell.

VR group

Eligibility Criteria

• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Child (0-17), Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• th year dental students at ACTA who participate in the course Medical Dental Interaction in september-october 2026

You may not qualify if:

• students who experience severe side-effects of the VR tool, such as severe dizziness, nausea or headche
• students who do not provide informed consent

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Denise van Diermen: lead

Study Sites (1)

Academic Center for Dentistry Amsterdam

Amsterdam, North Holland, 1081 LA, Netherlands

Location

Study Officials

• Denise E van Diermen, MD, PhD

  Academic Centrer for Dentistry Amsterdam

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Central Study Contacts

Denise E van Diermen, MD, PhD

CONTACT

+31 20 5980654; d.v.diermen@acta.nl

Marije Petersen, MD, Dentist, PhD

CONTACT

+31 20 5980654; j.f.petersen@acta.nl

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: OTHER
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: M.D., PhD

Model Details: It is a prospective educational cross-over study with the intervention: training with a virtual reality training tool versus a traditional mannikin training tool

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 30, 2026
• First Posted: September 10, 2026
• Study Start: August 31, 2026
• Primary Completion (Estimated): October 31, 2026
• Study Completion (Estimated): October 31, 2026
• Last Updated: September 10, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-09

Locations

NL (1)