How Virtual Simulation and Virtual Reality Combined Can Fill a Gap in Your Nursing Education Program
Virtual Simulation (VS) and Virtual Reality (VR) have become essential tools in nursing education, particularly in teaching and reinforcing a student’s critical thinking skills before progressing to more advanced simulations. A 2020 survey conducted by the National League for Nursing reported that 86% of nursing programs used some form of VS in their curriculum. And, a quick internet search will show how many leading nursing programs have already added VR.
VS and VR are two, different educational tools. While both have overlapping similarities in that they are “virtual”, it is the strategy of using them in tandem and in the correct place and sequence that provides educational programs with the most dramatic results.
To ensure a comprehensive and adaptable solution for any nursing curriculum, Laerdal, in partnership with Wolters Kluwer and the National League for Nursing, have developed two solutions: NextGen vSim for Nursing and vrClinicals for Nursing.
Which is the right fit? Below is a detailed look at where and how each solution is utilized to maximum effect, respectively.
Single-Loop Learning and Why Virtual is a Great Fit
VS and VR fit well into a concept called "single-loop" learning—learning where the desired outcome is well-defined and there is a clear understanding of what needs to be done to achieve that outcome. The focus of single-loop learning is to efficiently identify and correct errors or deviations from practice standards that have minimal room for interpretation.
Single-loop Learning is discussed in a popular article, SimZones: An Organizational Innovation for Simulation Programs and Centers, by Christopher Roussin, MS. and Peter Winstock, MD, PhD. We take a similar approach in Laerdal’s Circle of Learning. Regardless of how you choose to visualize the model, the focus of single-loop learning remains to efficiently identify and correct errors or deviations from practice standards with minimal room for interpretation.
Alternatively, Double-loop learning is a more advanced type of learning that is situational. Double-loop learning involves challenging a learner’s underlying assumptions, values, and beliefs that guide the learner’s decision-making and problem-solving skills. Almost always, double-loop learning requires instructor facilitation and debriefing, which can be a significant time investment.
VS and VR fit seamlessly into the earlier single-loop side of the learning equation. The benefits are that VS and VR free up educator time and allow learners to develop skills and competencies where the value comes from their own focused engagement.
Laerdal's Circle of Learning model for continuous learning follows a progression from single-loop to double-loop learning.
VS and VR are Important Building Blocks Towards Competency
Competency-Based Education (CBE) is nearly a mandate in nursing education today with every institutional authority, including the National League for Nursing, supporting CBE as the solution to many of the challenges faced by healthcare.
The focus of CBE is to ensure that students acquire the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to provide safe, effective, patient-centered care before they ever go to their first job.
The genius of incorporating VS and VR into the CBE paradigm is that both VS and VR support a systematic approach to teaching competency. VS and VR afford learners the opportunity to develop foundational skills (single-loop learning) before they advance to skills that require more abstract thinking, instructor guidance, and instructor-led debriefing (double-loop learning).
This is crucial because a learner who develops competency early on in one area can build on that competency when learning challenges become more advanced. A learner who does not is bound to struggle. Advocates of CBE call for something better for learners—and for outcomes.
It's About Time
The journal Clinical Simulation in Nursing reported that virtual simulation reduced the time needed to learn certain skills by up to 50%. The Journal of Medical Internet Research found that VR reduced the time needed to learn certain skills by up to 33%.
With faculty shortages on the rise, time has become an issue for educators everywhere. Laerdal’s virtual solutions can teach core competencies to your students, allowing you to focus on those parts of your curricula that will benefit most from your personal guidance and facilitation skills.
NextGen vSim for Nursing Brings Practicality to VS
Working with Wolters Kluwer, Laerdal has been at the forefront of bringing virtual simulation to the nursing community since we introduced vSim for Nursing in 2014. Learning from some of the best in nursing education and how they have used vSim for Nursing to achieve outstanding results, we have now introduced NextGen vSim for Nursing.
As a VS solution, NextGen vSim for Nursing focuses on foundational scenarios where learners can learn standard best practices and build clinical judgement skills that they will need throughout their career. Each scenario presents a single patient experience where the outcome relies on the learner’s decision-making abilities. Each case is repeatable, and learners can practice each scenario until they have achieved mastery.
NextGen vSim for Nursing can be used across laptop (PC) and tablet devices and be assigned to students for remote learning, or it can be used in the classroom to support curriculum content.
vrClinicals for Nursing Lets Students Build on NextGen vSim Learning
Students who have experienced scenarios delivered through NextGen vSim will appreciate the effortless transition to vrClinicals for Nursing. And, they will appreciate building on their previous learning to master new challenges.
As a VR solution, vrClinicals for Nursing focuses on advanced scenarios where clinical judgment in a busy, realistic hospital environment becomes essential. Here, learners face the challenge of patient prioritization over multiple rounds with several patients. As learners proceed through each scenario, they feel a deeper sense of “psychological fidelity” in a learning experience that is remarkably immersive.
vrClinicals for Nursing offers a flexible and convenient way to complement any simulation lab or to allow students to practice on their own.
Why not combine NextGen vSim for Nursing and vrClinicals for Nursing to Maximize Their Effect?
If your goal is to deliver competency-based outcomes and to be efficient across a systematic approach to learning, using NextGen vSim for Nursing and vrClinicals for Nursing can bring you exceptional results.
Together, both programs serve a pedagogy designed to develop learners from beginner to intermediate to advanced. And both provide an education and critical thinking experience focused on core competencies - which include:
- Patient-centered care
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Evidence-based practice
- Quality improvement
- Safety
- Informatics and technology
- Professionalism
- Leadership
Combining NextGen vSim for Nursing and vrClinicals for Nursing Builds Competence
NextGen vSim for Nursing
- Single-patient experience in patient room
- For foundational critical thinking
- Outcome relies on learner's decision-making abilities and exercising clinical judgement when providing care to a patient
- Extends across a wide range of clinical practice areas
- SBAR feature for improving communication skills
- Evidence-based scenarios authored by NLN
- Includes EHR on each patient for student learning
Core Competencies
- Patient-centered care
- Teamwork and collaboration
- Evidence-based practice
- Quality improvement
- Safety
- Informatics and technology
- Professionalism
- Leadership
vrClinicals for Nursing
- Multi-patient experience in busy hospital floor
- For advanced critical thinking
- Outcome relies on learner's decision-making and prioritization skills when providing care to several patients at a time
- Deeper focus in medical-surgical clinical practice
- Prepares students on delegating and assigning orders to other nurses
- Evidence-based scenarios authored by the NLN
- Includes EHR on each patient for student learning
Use NextGen vSim for Nursing and vrClinicals for Nursing together for amazing results.