The Vanguard of Simulation in the Heart of Philadelphia
The Helene Fuld Pavilion, in collaboration with their Nursing Information Technology Services partners, recently began to pilot virtual reality simulation utilizing SimX, a virtual and augmented reality company.
The project represents the Fuld Pavilion’s ongoing goal of expanding and improving learning experiences for students across the curriculum. Virtual reality, a highly immersive methodology, has been shown to increase comprehension and acquisition of learning objectives compared with traditional, manikin-based simulation methods. Additionally, it reduces space utilization and physical resources used to implement simulated scenarios.
The pilot project, costing about $24,000, includes the acquisition of two sets of Oculus Quest headsets and controllers, laptops, software and technology support, and the development of three custom scenarios. As those scenarios will be re-used in future years, the project is expected to result in overall cost savings relative to traditional simulation implementation.
The project team adapted an existing simulation case from the Acute Care Nurse Practitioner program, which focuses on treating hypotension post thoracic aortic aneurism, to be used in the virtual environment. It is expected to be implemented into the curriculum during the 2020-2021 academic year. The additional scenarios are being developed for Nurse Anesthesia and Pediatrics courses.
The team also developed user and student faculty guides to facilitate orientation to the new equipment. They are developing student surveys to gauge user experience, as well as new validation tools to measure the virtual scenarios’ effectiveness as an educational tool.
With the launch of virtual reality in the curriculum, the Fuld Pavilion will continue to examine future development and adoption of innovative learning approaches throughout the lab.
The Quality and Safety Education for Nurses (QSEN) Institute accepted an abstract submitted by the Helene Fuld Pavilion Simulation Education Specialists on “The Integration of a Live Electronic Health Record in an Academic Setting.”
The team will present their project at the QSEN International Forum, which has been postponed to June 2021 in Philadelphia, highlighting the School of Nursing’s partnership with Penn Medicine to implement the Epic charting system across the simulation curriculum and further develop students’ quality and safety competencies in EHR documentation.
Accepted abstracts for the conference focus on innovative projects or research related to healthcare education or practice focused on quality and safety. More about QSEN can be found here.
