By Megan M. Krishcke, contributor
Experts agree that the most effective kind of training is experiential, which usually involves doing something with your own two hands. Hands-on training, however, is rarely a wise or practical place to start when it comes to nursing. That is why instructors John Miller, RN, MN, and K. David Bodily, RN, BSN, are using virtual reality to give students the next best thing.
Miller, who teaches at Tacoma Community College in Washington state, and Bodily, from Western Wyoming Community College in Rock Springs, worked together to create a virtual emergency room in Second Life—an online, three-dimensional (3D) virtual world. They now train students to deal with a number of patient situations in this simulated environment.
This virtual ER allows a student, using a nurse avatar (a digital caricature of himself or herself) to interact with a patient avatar, which is played by another student. The virtual setting promotes nurse interactions with patients and helps develop real-time decision-making skills.
“In Second Life, students can train in a safe environment which allows them to learn from their mistakes,” Miller explained. “In a virtual environment you can create medical issues that are high acuity but low frequency—problems that ultimately harm or kill a patient. Or even situations where there has been a catastrophe and there are suddenly many patients requiring care.”
“Right now simulation is very important in nursing education,” Bodily stated. “It is especially important in a rural setting where the variety of situations faced in the ER is limited. With Second Life, we can create anything we feel is important for students to experience and the technology is making these experiences better than they ever were. It will make the education of nurses more effective and comprehensive.”
“The computerized mannequins are a great tool, but are expensive both to purchase and to operate. I thought, ‘Why not create something virtually, where students can go in at any time to practice or to role play with another student,’” said Miller, who has worked in nursing education for 26 years.
In the virtual ER, students can ask patients about their symptoms, administer treatment, and see the patients’ vital signs respond accordingly. Beyond the virtual ER, Miller has created a variety of interactive learning environments where students move to different levels that deal with different physiological systems, answer questions and click on Web site links that offer more information on a given topic.
In one simulated environment, for instance, students can walk around giant lung replicas and see the effects of various respiratory diseases or interact with a replica that is suffering an abdominal aortic aneurysm. Students are also able to build replicas reflecting different medical conditions as a way to test their learning. This encourages peer-to-peer learning, since any of these activities can occur in groups, with voice, chat and animated visuals of the avatars.
“I try to make everything interactive,” Miller said, “and keep students working in teams. The students are really engaged with the online tools and virtual environments. Whenever students have a chance to work with each other in the virtual environment they are there—they arrive early and stay after class.”
Miller sees additional advantages to using Second Life as a learning environment.
“Students can join Second Life support groups for people with chronic medical conditions,” he explained, “and gain a greater understanding of what it is like for patients to live in those circumstances. They also have opportunities to collaborate with other medical professionals. They gain a greater awareness of other cultures and nationalities, because people from all over the world are interacting on Second Life.”
A number of other nursing schools are using or looking into this technology for their student nurse training, as well, including University of Wisconsin, University of Texas, University of Michigan, University of San Francisco and Imperial College in London.
“This technology is wildly, wildly exciting,” Bodily added. “There are people who are looking at this as the next way we will interface with the Internet. These 3D technologies are going to evolve into things we can’t even imagine yet. What we are working with here is very clearly a part of the future and allows students to learn in ways they can’t learn in traditional online learning.”
For more information: View a video demonstration of the virtual ER on YouTube or visit the Second Life virtual world.
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