Jan-Feb 2024 | Issue 2 | Vol 17
Government Chief Whip and Minister of State for Public Health and Wellbeing and the National Drugs Strategy, Hildegarde Naughton TD, has launched a virtual reality (VR) learning system for nursing students and educators, describing it as “a remarkable step towards the future of healthcare education”. Pioneered by University of Galway and funded through the ERASMUS+ programme, the ViReTrain project offers nursing students and educators immersive eLearning experiences, preparing them for the complex demands of healthcare delivery.
Commenting on the launch of the new innovation, Minister Naughton said: “By combining cutting-edge technology with a commitment to excellence, this project ensures that nurses will be even better prepared to deliver high-quality, safe, and exceptional care to patients. Adopting this type of technology and opportunity for learning is both innovative and accessible, and aligns with our commitment to improving healthcare standards and fostering international collaboration, further advancing our nation’s healthcare system.”
ViReTrain’s virtual reality simulations mirror nursing care in practice and have been crafted by project researchers, offering nursing students invaluable experiential learning opportunities and helping them to prepare for the multifaceted challenges they will encounter in clinical practice. Students can practice clinical skills, use the nursing process, employ critical thinking skills, make informed decisions, and take actions that address individual patient needs. Each scenario is tied to specific learning outcomes, encompassing both technical and non-technical skills.
Dr Siobhan Smyth, Principal Investigator and Lecturer in the School of Nursing and Midwifery described ViReTrain an “innovative, accessible, and immersive learning tool”. “In this European project, we developed complex, authentic VR scenarios and modules, providing nurse educators with an educational framework and the software required to introduce VR simulation into their curricula. The project offers students the opportunity to acquire nursing skills in a safe and interactive environment that complements existing learning strategies.”
To use the technology, students don a VR headset and hold VR hand controllers to enter a virtual clinical ward. Here, they meet a VR patient and are tasked with providing nursing care within the context of the VR scenario. Similar to physical, and in-person simulation, a VR simulation includes a pre-briefing and a debriefing to maximise the learning experience. Students assume the role of a newly qualified nurse, providing care to an individual patient. The patient’s personal and clinical situation evolves, and the student’s decisions influence responses by the patient and other staff members, as well as the patient’s condition.
Trish Galvin, Advanced Nurse Practitioner at Saolta University Health Care Group said: “It’s amazing to see where stroke medicine has come over the last number of years in terms of acute interventions, improvements in outcome for patients, and in terms of mortality and morbidity. Today it has now entered the world of VR, and to see nursing at the forefront is fantastic because the role of the nurse is central to patients’ journeys on the stroke pathway.”
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