A Pilot Study of Integrating VR into Innovative Nursing Education by Interprofessional Collaboration
Abstract
Due to global threats from infectious diseases, aging populations, and rising community health care needs such as chronic illnesses and dementia, nursing students face significant pressure when dealing with complex patient scenarios and health behavior challenges. There is an urgent need to develop innovative nursing curriculum designs through interdisciplinary collaboration, teaching students to integrate information technology into health care [1,5,6]. This approach will help cultivate their self-directed learning, innovation, and problem-solving skills, better preparing them for the evolving health care environment [2,3,4].
This study employs a comparative research design, with data collection conducted from May 2023 to September 2023. The research subjects were fourth- and fifth-year students from a five-year nursing college program, with the experimental group consisting of 30 students and the control group consisting of 51 students, totaling 81 participants. The experimental group attended two interdisciplinary information technology enhancement workshops, each lasting 4 hours. During a four-week community nursing internship course, they designed virtual reality (VR) digital health education plans in small groups, which were then implemented in the community nursing practicum curriculum.
The research measurement tools included a general community nursing internship performance evaluation scale and a self-designed semi-structured questionnaire. Statistical analysis revealed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in the "general clinical nursing skills" component of the internship evaluation (p < .01). Additionally, the experimental group also showed significant differences in other assignments and overall scores (p < .05).
Furthermore, research participants reflected that their participation in the study had the following top three impacts:
1. Enhanced learning experience in applying information technology to health care (66.7%);
2. Improved scientific thinking and application skills (46.7%);
3. Increased competencies in peer interaction and communication (46.7%).
The results of this study provide valuable insights for interprofessional collaboration in cultivating nursing students' ability to integrate information technology into health care. It is worth applying and promoting further research on VR applications and advancing nursing education at the college level.
Notes
References:
1. Fealy, S., Irwin, P., Tacgin, Z., See, Z. S., & Jones, D. (2023). Enhancing Nursing Simulation Education: a case for extended reality innovation. Virtual Worlds, 2(3), 218–230. https://doi.org/10.3390/virtualworlds2030013
2. Foronda, C. L., Fernandez-Burgos, M., Nadeau, C., Kelley, C. N., & Henry, M. N. (2020b). Virtual Simulation in Nursing Education: A Systematic review spanning 1996 to 2018. Simulation in Healthcare the Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, 15(1), 46–54. https://doi.org/10.1097/sih.0000000000000411
3. Jhang, J. (2020). The Effect of Achievement Emotion on Interacting Anxiety and Learning Interest in Playing VR, and Learning Transfer. [Unpublished master’s thesis]. National Taiwan Normal University. https://doi.org/http://doi.org/10.6345/NTNU202000729
4. Liu, K., Zhang, W., Li, W., Wang, T., & Zheng, Y. (2023). Effectiveness of virtual reality in nursing education: a systematic review and meta-analysis. BMC Medical Education, 23(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12909-023-04662-x
5. Ministry of Education in Taiwan. (2018). Artificial Intelligence Talent Cultivation Program. https://aitc.ncku.edu.tw/project/project_all.html
6. Padilha, J. M., Machado, P. P., Ribeiro, A., Ramos, J., & Costa, P. (2019). Clinical virtual simulation in nursing Education: randomized controlled trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(3), e11529. https://doi.org/10.2196/11529
Sigma Membership
Lambda Beta at-Large
Type
Presentation
Format Type
Text-based Document
Study Design/Type
Other
Research Approach
Other
Keywords:
Competence, Interprofessional, Interdisciplinary, Teaching and Learning Strategies, Nursing Curriculum, Global Threats to Health
Recommended Citation
Chang, Luna; Chen, Shu-Chuan; Kao, Hsiao Hua; Hsieh, Pei Jung; and Tsao, Yi-Ying, "A Pilot Study of Integrating VR into Innovative Nursing Education by Interprofessional Collaboration" (2025). International Nursing Research Congress (INRC). 24.
https://www.sigmarepository.org/inrc/2025/presentations_2025/24
Conference Name
36th International Nursing Research Congress
Conference Host
Sigma Theta Tau International
Conference Location
Seattle, Washington, USA
Conference Year
2025
Rights Holder
All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.
Review Type
Abstract Review Only: Reviewed by Event Host
Acquisition
Proxy-submission
A Pilot Study of Integrating VR into Innovative Nursing Education by Interprofessional Collaboration
Seattle, Washington, USA
Due to global threats from infectious diseases, aging populations, and rising community health care needs such as chronic illnesses and dementia, nursing students face significant pressure when dealing with complex patient scenarios and health behavior challenges. There is an urgent need to develop innovative nursing curriculum designs through interdisciplinary collaboration, teaching students to integrate information technology into health care [1,5,6]. This approach will help cultivate their self-directed learning, innovation, and problem-solving skills, better preparing them for the evolving health care environment [2,3,4].
This study employs a comparative research design, with data collection conducted from May 2023 to September 2023. The research subjects were fourth- and fifth-year students from a five-year nursing college program, with the experimental group consisting of 30 students and the control group consisting of 51 students, totaling 81 participants. The experimental group attended two interdisciplinary information technology enhancement workshops, each lasting 4 hours. During a four-week community nursing internship course, they designed virtual reality (VR) digital health education plans in small groups, which were then implemented in the community nursing practicum curriculum.
The research measurement tools included a general community nursing internship performance evaluation scale and a self-designed semi-structured questionnaire. Statistical analysis revealed that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in the "general clinical nursing skills" component of the internship evaluation (p < .01). Additionally, the experimental group also showed significant differences in other assignments and overall scores (p < .05).
Furthermore, research participants reflected that their participation in the study had the following top three impacts:
1. Enhanced learning experience in applying information technology to health care (66.7%);
2. Improved scientific thinking and application skills (46.7%);
3. Increased competencies in peer interaction and communication (46.7%).
The results of this study provide valuable insights for interprofessional collaboration in cultivating nursing students' ability to integrate information technology into health care. It is worth applying and promoting further research on VR applications and advancing nursing education at the college level.
Description
The study observed that research participants actively engaged in utilizing technology to develop innovative health education materials, specifically VR interactive plans. Through an interdisciplinary approach to curriculum design, students were motivated to cultivate autonomous learning and collaborative skills, which also supported the development of core clinical nursing competencies, including scientific thinking and application, innovation, teamwork, and communication skills.