Evaluation of artificial intelligence generated immersive virtual reality simulation on skill mastery

Nursing education faces challenges in providing nursing students with sufficient clinical site opportunities due to healthcare staffing shortages and faculty resource constraints. The decline in clinical opportunities has a negative impact on nursing students' growth in critical thinking, clinical decision making, and nursing skill proficiency levels. Artificial intelligence (AI)- generated Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR) simulation provides a potential solution to improve these clinical education outcomes.

AI-generated IVR simulations for nursing students included two clinical skill scenarios: medication administration and intravenous (IV) insertion performed at three checkpoints. Forty-two undergraduate nursing students completed prebriefing activities, physical skill performance, and two IVR simulation sessions over several months.

Participant performance was evaluated at three checkpoints: physical simulation performance (checkpoint 1), the first AI-generated IVR simulation attempt (checkpoint 2), and the second AI-generated IVR simulation attempt (checkpoint 3) using the Creighton Competency Evaluation Instrument (C-CEI) and AI-generated data analytics. Student satisfaction was assessed using the Simulation Effectiveness Tool-Modified (SET-M).

Student performance scores increased across the three checkpoints for both medication administration and intravenous (IV) insertion skills. Improvements were observed in areas related to critical thinking, clinical decision-making, and nursing skill proficiency based on C-CEI evaluations and AI-generated performance analytics. Students also reported high satisfaction with the AI-generated IVR simulation experience as measured by the Simulation Effectiveness Tool-Modified (SET-M).

Participation in AI-generated IVR simulation was associated with higher nursing student scores in critical thinking, clinical decision-making, and nursing skill proficiency. Students also reported high satisfaction with the AI-generated IVR simulation experience. These findings support the use of AI-generated IVR simulation as an additional strategy for expanding clinical learning opportunities within nursing education and preparing nursing students for professional clinical practice.