Multimodal Palliative Education Integrated With Cutting-Edge Technology for Acute Care Nurses

Area of Science:

• Nursing Education
• Palliative Care
• Health Technology

Background:

• Frontline nurses often lack adequate palliative care education, negatively impacting advanced chronic disease patient care.
• Existing literature indicates that enhanced educational strategies can improve nurses' palliative care knowledge and communication skills.

Purpose of the Study:

• To improve acute care nurses' understanding of palliative care principles.
• To boost nurses' self-efficacy in communicating palliative care needs to patients.
• To evaluate an innovative, technology-integrated educational intervention.

Main Methods:

• A multimodal educational program was delivered to 13 acute care nurses.
• The intervention included a recorded lecture, a virtual reality (VR) clinical vignette, and an infographic badge.
• Key outcomes were assessed pre- and post-intervention.

Main Results:

• Palliative care discussion engagement rose by approximately 24.4% post-intervention.
• Over 60% of participants reported a strong sense of presence in the VR environment.
• A significant 92% of participants indicated willingness to use VR for future education.

Conclusions:

• Multimodal palliative care education incorporating advanced technology, like VR, effectively increased nurses' engagement in palliative care discussions.
• Virtual reality proved to be an acceptable and valuable educational tool for nurses.
• Expanding such educational initiatives could enhance palliative care service utilization, reduce costs, and improve end-of-life care.