Effects of a Patient Experience-Based Virtual Reality Blended Learning Program on Nursing Students

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Medical Simulation
• Virtual Reality in Healthcare

Background:

• Traditional nursing education often lacks immersive patient perspective experiences.
• Developing empathy and clinical skills requires understanding patient discomfort and pain.
• Perioperative training typically occurs in limited hospital settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate a virtual reality blended learning program for nursing students.
• To enhance nursing students' ability to experience patient perspectives.
• To assess the program's impact on empathy, patient safety attitudes, and clinical performance.

Main Methods:

• Development of a virtual reality blended learning program simulating perioperative patient experiences.
• Implementation of the program for junior nursing students.
• Analysis of changes in empathy, patient safety attitudes, nursing care confidence, and clinical skill performance.

Main Results:

• Nursing students demonstrated increased empathy after virtual reality patient experience.
• Positive shifts in attitudes toward patient safety treatment were observed.
• Enhanced confidence in nursing care and improved clinical skill performance were reported.

Conclusions:

• Virtual reality blended learning is effective for perioperative nursing training.
• The program successfully increased nursing students' empathy and practical skills.
• Simulating patient experiences outside traditional settings improves nursing education outcomes.