Education and practice collaboration: using simulation and virtual reality technology to assess continuing nurse...

Assessment of continuing competence of staff is a challenge for many healthcare organizations. There is no clear consensus as to what constitutes continuing competence or how to measure that competence. Methods for assessing continued competence of nurses are varied. A novel method, simulation and virtual reality technology, was used to assess the competency of nurses employed in long-term acute care hospitals in Louisiana. This article will describe the project which was the result of a collaborative effort between a large healthcare organization and a school of nursing.