The role of digital teaching methods in supporting practical skills training in the academic training of health professions - a scoping review

Abstract

Background: Digital teaching methods are established for imparting theoretical knowledge in the training of health professions. While digital formats are increasingly used in education, evidence on their capacity to teach practical and hands-on skills remains limited. It is unclear to what extent digital teaching methods can support the training of practical skills. This scoping review aimed to identify the digital teaching methods used to teach practical skills in the academic training of health professions and to offer an initial evaluation of their effectiveness.

Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed in June 2023 using the PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Web of Science Core Collection and CINAHL databases. An update of this initial search was performed in April 2025. Original studies on the digital teaching of practical skills in undergraduate academic training for health professions, published in German or English, were included. The studies were analyzed with regard to teaching methods, areas of application, authors and year, intervention used, outcomes and results.

Results: Out of 2,544 records, 292 studies were included. Interventions comprised simulators (n = 65), blended/hybrid teaching methods (n = 55), virtual reality (n = 48), e-learning platforms (n = 36), video-based teaching formats (n = 19), telecommunication tools (n = 18), mobile applications (n = 13), robotic simulators (n = 10), serious games or gamified learning (n = 10), specialized tools (n = 6), interactive learning systems (n = 6) and augmented reality (n = 6).

75% of the studies focused on medical education, followed by student training in nursing (18%) and physiotherapy (3%). The most common study designs were randomized controlled trials (42%), quasi-experimental designs (34%) and quantitative-descriptive designs (12%). Learning outcomes were predominantly assessed through knowledge tests, practical examinations (e.g., OSCEs) and participants' self-assessments. Across the included studies, most digital teaching methods demonstrated positive effects on the acquisition of practical skills, particularly simulation-based, VR-supported or otherwise interactive formats. The magnitude and consistency of these effects varied substantially across disciplines and study designs.

Conclusions: Digital teaching methods offer promising approaches to support the training of practical skills, with interactive, simulation-based, and VR-supported formats showing particularly positive effects. Nevertheless, longitudinal studies examining the retention of practical skills over time remain scarce. Digital teaching methods should be specifically tailored to the practical skills being taught, making use of available resources.

Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12909-026-08785-9.

Keywords: Academic training; Digital teaching methods; Health education; Practical skills; Scoping review; Undergraduate.

Fig. 1

PRISMA flow diagram

Fig. 2

Number of publications per year

Fig. 3

Study designs of the included studies

Fig. 4

Health professions addressed in the included studies

Fig. 5

Digital interventions used in the included studies