ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Healthcare Professions Education
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1537047
This article is part of the Research TopicThe Increasing Relevance of Traditional Medicine Systems for the Primary Health Care Sector and General Practice: Global Research Perspectives – Volume IIView all 15 articles
Learning technology for Ayurveda with pedagogically designed virtual patient case simulations
Provisionally accepted
Prema Nedungadi1*
Rammanohar Puthiyedath2Romita Jinachandran3Shyamasundaran Kulangara2
Sushma Naranappa Salethoor2Mandip Goyal4Nagarajan Chockan2Anup Thakur5Raghu Raman6- 1Amrita School of Computing, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kollam, India
- 2Amrita School of Ayurveda, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, AMRITAPURI, Kerala, India
- 3AmritaCREATE, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amritapuri, Kollam, Kerala, India
- 4Institute of Teaching and Research in Ayurveda, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India
- 5Institute of Teaching and Reseach in Ayurveda, Gujarat Ayurved University, Jamnagar, Gujarat, India
- 6Amrita School of Business, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University, Kollam, Kerala, India
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The integration of learning technology in Ayurveda education in India has been limited, creating a significant gap in skill labs for clinical practice. This study presents the AyurSIM platform with pedagogically designed interactive virtual case simulations that replicate real-world scenarios. Research questions examine the effectiveness of the blended pedagogical approach and evaluate the system's usability from the perspective of diverse user groups, including students, educators, and practitioners. The platform delivers structured educational modules from patient examination to follow-up care, incorporating Ayurveda protocols and a comprehensive database of disease patterns. It integrates theories from experiential learning, problem-solving tasks, and reflective practice into the design of various modules to support learning and engagement. The design of the platform allows for the creation of virtual cases with regional variations to align with diverse practices while maintaining a structured protocol. A usability study involving 210 participants indicated good results on the standard system usability scale, with a score of 77.08. The participants highlighted the intuitive interface, immersive learning features, and educational value. Suggested areas for improvement include AR/VR integration, expanded clinical content to additional disciplines, and support of multilingual content. This scalable and culturally responsive platform integrates traditional Ayurveda practices with the needs of modern education and healthcare. The learning platform offers comprehensive and practical experience through the integration of contemporary educational theories. The findings suggest that the blended pedagogical approach provides a robust framework for Ayurveda education. The learning platform's virtual patients, immersive environment, and comprehensive end-to-end support, from patient encounters to follow-up and reporting, have the potential to enhance learning outcomes for Ayurveda students. The ability to simulate realistic clinical scenarios in a structured manner underscores the platform's value in preparing students for real-world practice.Liu et al.
Keywords: complementary and alternative medicine, Learning Technology, TCAM, Virtual patients, Ayurveda, Technology-Enhanced Learning, SDG3: Good health and wellbeing, SDG4 quality education
Received: 04 Dec 2024; Accepted: 27 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Nedungadi, Puthiyedath, Jinachandran, Kulangara, Salethoor, Goyal, Chockan, Thakur and Raman. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Prema Nedungadi, Amrita School of Computing, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kollam, India
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