Texas A&M nursing students acquire practical experience prior to working with patients using state-of-the-art technologies.
Nursing aspirants studying at Texas A&M University have already spent hours communicating with patients before even attending a facility or participating in up-close clinical scenarios. Their instructors have developed new, creative virtual reality (VR) simulations to help them do this.
A group from the Texas A&M College of Nursing is already focusing on implementing virtual reality scenarios into their coursework to effectively find the connection between the classroom and the clinic since early 2020 (pre-pandemic). So far, they’ve issued two simulators that give trainees immersive experiences prior to them working with real patients.
Elizabeth Wells-Beede, Clinical Assistant Professor, College of Nursing, explained that VR simulation is being considered as a safe environment. She stressed that individuals making mistakes is something that is expected, also emphasising that she and her associates are expecting to generate an environment where students can falter, but eventually end up learning better. Wells-Beede said that she and her fellow specialists can assist students in going through the entire process so that they may put what they learned to practice. This can prevent them from making serious mistakes with actual patients.
Clinical simulation is not a novel concept, and it has been utilised in the domain of nursing education for a long time. This type of simulation allows students to test out theory from textbooks and hone their lab skills, including IV insertions, vital signs checking, and performing evaluations of some scenarios that they might have to face in real life, within a clinical setting. In a typical simulation, a student is confronted with a standardised patient (or skilled performer), a dummy, or a simulation programme. The student must go through the opportunity presented to them by reviewing the patient’s record, interviewing them, and performing an examination in order to decide what action to take.
In a typical simulation, a student is confronted with a standardised patient (or skilled performer), a dummy, or a simulation programme. The student must go through the opportunity presented to them by reviewing the patient’s record, interviewing them, and performing an examination in order to decide what action to take.
Virtual reality is an innovative clinical simulation option that offers vivid immersive experiences without requiring learners to be within real-life clinical environments. As a result, it alleviates the pressure on clinical practice partners to allocate learners.
The Texas A&M technology is being perfected through an association with Texas A&M College of Architecture’s Institute for Applied Creativity’s Associate Professor and Director, Jinsil Hwaryoung Seo. The nursing teachers create clinical scenarios which are then transformed into immersive virtual reality experiences that the students partake in.
Nursing students put on virtual reality headgear to enter the simulated world, which takes them to a virtual home or clinic. There they meet a patient and go over their situation to make a decision whilst their teacher observes and provides valuable feedback.
