From Noticing to Clinical Judgment: Exploring Anxiety in Virtual Reality Nursing Simulation.

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Clinical Judgment
• Virtual Reality Simulation

Background:

• Professional noticing is a fundamental nursing skill crucial for clinical judgment.
• Immersive virtual reality (VR) simulations provide unique opportunities for nursing students to practice and receive feedback on noticing skills.
• Anxiety can potentially influence the effectiveness of VR simulations for skill development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between debilitating and facilitating anxiety and the skill of noticing in prelicensure nursing students utilizing VR simulation.
• To understand how different types of anxiety affect students' ability to perceive critical information during virtual reality training.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional, quantitative study was conducted with prelicensure nursing students.
• Individualized VR simulations were used to assess noticing skills.
• The Achievement Anxiety Test and Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric (LCJR) were employed for outcome measurement.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant correlations were found between Lasater Clinical Judgment Rubric (LCJR) noticing scores and debilitating anxiety (rs [31] = -0.035, P = .854).
• Similarly, no significant correlation was observed between LCJR noticing scores and facilitating anxiety (rs [31] = 0.18, P = .32).

Conclusions:

• The study indicates that anxiety, encompassing both debilitating and facilitating types, is not significantly associated with noticing abilities in the context of VR simulation for nursing students.
• These findings suggest that VR simulation may be a valuable tool for developing noticing skills, irrespective of student anxiety levels.