Innovative Educational Pathways in Spine Surgery: Advanced Virtual Reality–Based Training

Background Over the past few years, a reorganization of the educational pathways has been promoted with the purpose of optimizing the acquisition of competences and their assessment, so as to reduce the risks to both health care professionals and end users. Virtual reality (VR) has been repeatedly tested, initially as a positive reinforcement for more traditional educational pathways and, more recently, as their potential substitute. The aim of this study was to demonstrate the potentiality of VR simulation training in spine surgery. Methods The VR simulator reproduced the lateral lumbar access to the spine. The simulation included a tutorial, the preoperative settings, and the surgical ses…