[Applying Virtual Reality Assisted Critical Thinking Training Programs Among Nurse Practitioners].

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Virtual Reality Technology
• Nursing Practice

Background:

• Virtual reality (VR) creates immersive, multi-sensory three-dimensional environments simulating real-world scenarios.
• VR is increasingly utilized in medical education and training to enhance professional competence.
• Nurse practitioners' clinical roles and critical thinking development share similarities with medical education.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the potential application of virtual reality (VR) in critical thinking training for nurse practitioners.
• To assess the effectiveness of VR-based training for enhancing reasoning and differential diagnosis skills in nurse practitioners.
• To identify the gap in current literature regarding VR training effectiveness for nurse practitioners in Taiwan.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on VR applications in medical and nursing education.
• Analysis of the similarities between medical and nurse practitioner education, particularly in critical thinking components.
• Identification of the need for empirical studies evaluating VR training for nurse practitioners.

Main Results:

• Virtual reality (VR) provides a valuable tool for simulating clinical scenarios and enhancing sensory engagement in training.
• The critical thinking skills required for nurse practitioners align with those developed through VR-based medical education.
• There is a notable lack of research evaluating the efficacy of VR training specifically for nurse practitioners in Taiwan.

Conclusions:

• Virtual reality (VR) holds significant potential for improving nurse practitioner education, particularly in critical thinking and differential diagnosis.
• Further investigation is crucial to validate the effectiveness of VR-based training interventions for nurse practitioners.
• Future research should focus on Taiwan to address the current deficit in evaluating VR training for this demographic.