The project implements an immersive VR tool centered around a nursing shift handover in two different fields, medical informatics and nursing.
The project “Virtual reality in nursing and medical informatics education” examines the obstacles and requirements which still exist to implement VR tools in real life education and exemplarily demonstrates an implementation in two different fields, medical informatics and nursing. Today, integration of immersive virtual reality (VR) tools in class in accordance with the curriculum is still a major barrier in education although VR is one of the best tools for situated learning in a safe and easily accessible environment. In the project an exemplary immersive 360-degree video developed in the SNSF NRP 77 project «Digitalisation and transmission of clinical information in nursing: implications and perspectives (Digi-Care)» was chosen to show how to profit best of this innovative tool and to support teachers to use it on a more regular basis in their courses. The video is centered around a nursing shift handover using digital devices in an acute care ward, starting with a look through the patient details in the hospital floor and finishing with a personal introduction of the oncoming nurse to the patient by the outgoing nurse at the patient’s bedside. It allows students to immerse themselves in a realistic situation in everyday nursing care.
The first aim is to develop two different teaching units a) for nurses and b) for medical informatics students based on the same VR-tool in close interdisciplinary cooperation between the BFH and the SFUVET and collaborating with experts from the practice in nursing and medical informatics education to foster the meaningful adoption of VR in the classroom.
The second aim of the project is to evaluate the effectiveness of the VR-based teaching unit. Therefore, in a pre-and post-test design nursing and medical informatics students will be tested according to the educational goals defined for the respective field. Furthermore, the perceived usability of the 360-degree video will be evaluated by these two groups.
The project starts in January 2025.
Overall, the project itself can be considered a translation into educational practice as we develop and implement a teaching unit in practice with a 360-degree video and inspire teachers how to use these kinds of videos in their own lessons. At the end of the project there will be a proven methodological and didactical concept for two different fields (nursing and medical informatics), which will be provided open source. The concept will highlight the do’s and dont’s of 360 degree-video use in two different educational environments and can be used by other interested parties. The 360-degree video is already open source and thus available to the interested public.
