Development and Effects of a Virtual Reality Simulation Nursing Education Program Combined With Clinical Practice...

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Health Professions Education
• Medical Simulation

Background:

• Growing emphasis on patient rights and patient-centered care necessitates innovative educational approaches.
• Advancements in science and technology are driving the adoption of new methods like virtual reality (VR) in nursing education.
• Traditional clinical practice may not fully prepare nursing students for complex postoperative patient care scenarios.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a virtual reality simulation nursing education program for postoperative patient care.
• To integrate an information processing model into the VR simulation design for enhanced learning.
• To assess the program's effectiveness in improving nursing students' confidence and clinical decision-making.

Main Methods:

• A 4-week clinical practice-linked VR simulation program was implemented.
• Nursing students were assigned to either an experimental group (VR simulation + clinical practice) or a control group (routine clinical practice).
• The experimental group (n=22) and control group (n=22) were compared on key performance indicators.

Main Results:

• The VR simulation nursing education program significantly improved nursing students' performance confidence.
• The program also demonstrated effectiveness in enhancing students' clinical decision-making abilities.
• No significant difference was noted in the control group's outcomes compared to the experimental group's baseline.

Conclusions:

• The developed VR simulation program, grounded in an information processing model, is effective for nursing education.
• This VR simulation approach can serve as foundational data for future simulation curricula development.
• The program contributes to enhancing nursing students' clinical competency, particularly in performance confidence and decision-making.