The Power of Presence in Virtual Teaching and Practice Environments

Area of Science:

• Nursing Informatics
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Digital Health

Background:

• Hospitalized patients often experience separation from family and healthcare providers.
• Maintaining human presence is crucial for patient well-being and effective nursing care.
• Virtual nursing education presents unique challenges in fostering student presence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine telepresence via video chat for family and nurse presence in hospitals.
• To identify ethical, technical, and logistical challenges of bedside video chat implementation.
• To apply the Community of Inquiry model to virtual nursing education and technology's role in presence.

Main Methods:

• Conceptual analysis of telepresence and video chat applications.
• Exploration of the Community of Inquiry model in distance education.
• Discussion of technological solutions for virtual nursing instruction.

Main Results:

• Video chat platforms offer potential for enhanced family and nurse presence.
• Significant ethical, technical, and logistical barriers exist for bedside video chat.
• The Community of Inquiry model provides a framework for understanding presence in virtual nursing education.

Conclusions:

• Telepresence technologies can bridge geographical gaps in healthcare and education.
• Addressing implementation challenges is key to successful adoption of video chat at the bedside.
• Technology can be leveraged to foster human presence in virtual nursing environments.