How Virtual Reality Prepares Nurses for High Acuity Situations
Acuity levels often refer to a patient’s status level, with higher acuity meaning a more unstable condition. Sepsis is one example of a condition with high acuity. A high acuity setting may refer to the intensive care unit (ICU) or emergency department (ED). Nursing in high acuity environments requires honed critical thinking and clinical reasoning […]
Virtual Reality or Manikin-based Simulation?
When it comes to healthcare training and education, simulation is a core component designed to apply, test, and refine clinical skills in a safe environment for the learner. There are many ways to accomplish this, from traditional methods like manikin-based simulations and the use of standardized patients to more modern methods like virtual simulation and […]
Top 5 Benefits of VR in Nursing Education
What’s the deal with virtual reality? And why is it making such big waves? Maybe it’s time to pick up surfing and come along for the ride…but how do you know it’s the right way to go? Start at the beginning – read on for the core benefits of using VR in nursing education: Psychological […]
Bridging the Gap: Insights from Our Recent Roundtable on Nursing Practice
In September of this year, we hosted a group of leaders from across the United States, inviting them to join us in San Antonio for a roundtable discussion on bridging the gap between nursing school and the transition to practice. Understanding the difficult nature of transitioning from schooling to practice, it was imperative for us […]
Embedding VR Scenarios across the Nursing Program: How the team at the University of Chester is incorporating innovative technology to meet students’ needs
Time flies – and it seems like technology is advancing at warp speed. Children growing up with this new set of technology, like Chat GPT and VR gaming, are likely to have expectations around its use in their education, as well. With that in mind as a wave of the future nursing generation, alongside the […]
Becoming the Instructor: How One (Former) Medical Student has used VR in School and in Practice
As a student in her final year of medical school, Dr. Alice Jones was introduced to virtual reality during her clinical simulations. Little did she know that her initial experience with VR would be a formative one, sparking an interest in teaching and supporting medical students through their simulation program. Now a doctor herself, Dr. […]
Bringing Faculty into the Fold: Virtual Reality and the Learn Where You Live Program
New Brunswick, Canada is a large yet rural province. Finding ways to support the healthcare needs of rural communities is a key challenge for the faculty in the nursing program at the University of New Brunswick (UNB), who have successfully incorporated virtual reality within the Learn Where You Live (LWYL) Program. The Learn Where You […]
Simulation and your Return on Investment
Running a sim lab is serious business! Imagine… You’re in charge of running and maintaining your institution’s simulation lab, complete with manikins, task trainers, and, at times, standardized patients. As part of your role, you must coordinate the schedules of all 200 nursing students and faculty for a day of simulation – not to mention […]
How to Bolster Critical Thinking in Nursing with Virtual Reality
In nursing, critical thinking is a vital and necessary skill. It’s not only critical thinking – clinical reasoning, clinical decision-making, and clinical judgment are all core components of nursing. While the nuances of these terms have been much discussed, they are all interrelated and function together as nurses observe, analyze, and take action. For example, […]
Unlocking Success in Healthcare: How VR Training Elevates Patient Care, Staff, and New Nurses
Virtual reality is a hot topic these days, particularly in healthcare education and training – and for good reason. VR scenarios are helping learners across the lifespan of their careers. From junior learners working on building foundational skills to newly licensed practitioners transitioning to practice to advanced clinicians continuing their education, there’s something there for […]