Sensitive, compassionate and caring students increase their communication and nursing skills while wearing virtual reality glasses, according to those in North Carolina Central University’s nursing program experiencing VR simulations aided by generative artificial intelligence.
While many nursing students often lack confidence going into a clinical setting after their studies and exams, NCCU’s students report greater proficiency and time management, said Tina Scott, the program’s director of experiential learning for nursing.
The VR simulations, aided by genAI, create as close to a realistic experience as possible – outside of encountering patients in real life.
About one year in with the addition of conversational AI layered on NCCU’s virtual reality nurse training simulations, Scott said she believes it is the best thing. How the VR is aided by conversational AI is “amazing,” she said.
“AI really brings it … it is very realistic.”
The accuracy and realism generated by the virtual platform’s patients have been most beneficial to students in helping them to see the gaps in their encounter documentation.
Training begins the day before a scheduled VR simulation when students are assigned to learn about the virtual patients they will see and what they will be expected to do during their one-hour shift in a virtual hospital. Then in the sim lab, nursing students prioritize their patients, speak to their virtual patients during their assessments and outline their approaches to care.
Of note, students document their virtual patient care in real time but do not use genAI to support their own charting so that faculty can assess their proficiency.
“That reflects the students’ true response,” she said.
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Talking points:
- “People-first nursing” and preparing healthcare leaders
- How AI bolsters VR training
- Patient encounters in the VR/AI lab
- Improving students’ documentation skills
- Addressing barriers to trust in AI
- Implementing the technology
More about this episode:
VR opens new avenues for teaching neurodiverse people
Mount Sinai to provide ChatGPT education platform
Duke’s chief nurse shows how VR and AI are changing nursing at the health system
How Mass General Brigham is using augmented reality to train its nurses
The ‘power of VR’ shows its worth across multiple specialties
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
