[This news release from the Mass General Brigham health system describes a new training tool that uses presence to teach health care professionals how to prevent and control the transmission of infections; see the original version for a second image and a 3:08 minute video (also available on YouTube). A quick search reveals several other apparently independent projects, including at Indiana University and Saint-Louis Hospital – AP-HP in Paris, and in Switzerland and Australia. –Matthew]

[Image: A screengrab from the VR training module that shows invisible contamination on portable medical equipment. The training module incorporates gamification to engage learners.]

New Virtual Reality Training Tool Combats Contamination of Portable Medical Equipment

Mass General Brigham-developed VR training modules incorporate gamification; clinicians at seven facilities in pilot study found modules enjoyable.

June 11, 2025

Infection control researchers at Mass General Brigham have developed a virtual reality (VR) tool to train clinicians on core concepts in infection control, including cleaning and disinfecting portable medical equipment, to prevent the spread of infections throughout healthcare facilities. They successfully piloted the VR training tool at seven facilities across the United States, and their hope is such training can increase staff competency and improve patient safety. The work is published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

“Devices such as blood pressure cuffs, glucometers, and portable imaging machines are everywhere in healthcare, and study after study has shown healthcare is failing at cleaning and disinfecting them, leading to risk of healthcare-associated infections.” said senior author Erica S. Shenoy, MD, PhD, chief of Infection Control for Mass General Brigham. “We know that when core infection control practices are correctly and consistently applied, the risk to patients is reduced; but we also know that the way we have been teaching these practices for decades is not delivering.”

Healthcare-associated Infections affect 1-in-31 patients, result in almost 100,000 deaths annually, and incur $28.4 billion in direct medical costs. Up to 75% of these infections are preventable through implementation of core infection prevention practices. Studies have reported between 25% to 100% of portable medical equipment to be contaminated and shared portable medical equipment has been implicated in transmission of healthcare-associated infections.

Dr. Shenoy and her colleagues developed an immersive VR module that uses head-mounted displays and guides learners through a simulated inpatient healthcare environment. The module incorporates gamification and visualization of invisible contamination, where learners review and apply cleaning and disinfection concepts to two different devices: a vital signs machine and a point-of-care ultrasound machine.

“We wanted clinicians to be able to ‘see the unseen’ risk and be completely immersed in a way that could lead to improved knowledge and skills when back in the real world,” explained Dr. Shenoy.

In the study’s initial phase, 31 participants were trained and provided feedback, which was used to revise the training module. Then, an additional 44 participants tried the revised module, 39 of whom (88.6%) reported an overall positive experience. Survey comments from learners often touted their enjoyment of the immersive and virtual, hands-on environment of the platform. While half reported negative physical sensations (motion sickness is common among new VR users), only a few participants reported module challenges, such as difficulty with transporting portable medical equipment, donning and doffing their virtual gloves, or understanding instructions.

Additional research is underway and has moved beyond user experience and acceptability to focus on testing learners’ knowledge, skills, and competency after training with the VR module.

“In busy, complex healthcare settings, a new kind of training is needed that increases muscle memory for these core infection control practices,” said Dr. Shenoy. “Maybe not surprising, but certainly encouraging to our team, was that learners expressed joy and excitement for the training. We know that when learners are engaged, they are more likely to retain the information.”

—
Authorship: Additional Mass General Brigham co-authors include Esteban A. Barreto, PhD, MA, Michelle S. Jerry, BS, Vianelly García, MPH, Chloe V. Green, Andrea S. Greenfield, MSN, CIC, and Eileen F. Searle, PhD, RN.

Disclosures: The authors declare no relevant conflicts of interest.

Funding: This work was supported by a cooperative agreement from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), CK22-2203. The CDC was not involved in preparation, submission, or review of the manuscript

Paper cited: Barreto E. et al. “A Virtual Reality Training Pilot Study for Cleaning and Low-Level Disinfection of Portable Medical Equipment”” Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. https://doi.org/10.1017/ice.2025.89

About Mass General Brigham: Mass General Brigham is an integrated academic health care system, uniting great minds to solve the hardest problems in medicine for our communities and the world. Mass General Brigham connects a full continuum of care across a system of academic medical centers, community and specialty hospitals, a health insurance plan, physician networks, community health centers, home care, and long-term care services. Mass General Brigham is a nonprofit organization committed to patient care, research, teaching, and service to the community. In addition, Mass General Brigham is one of the nation’s leading biomedical research organizations with several Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals. For more information, please visit massgeneralbrigham.org.

Media contact:
Ryan Jaslow
Program Director, External Communications (Research)
rjaslow@mgb.org