Abstract:

Background:
The growing number of technological advancements has led to a paradigm shift in healthcare delivery and nurse education. Virtual reality (VR) is one of the rapidly growing technologies. The rapid growth of VR has led to significant price drops and the development of user friendly, wireless, light, and affordable devices. Recent challenges to nurse education, particularly in the context of COVID-19, have resulted in an increased use of VR in skill and knowledge acquisition. This technology remains a relatively new experience for many nursing students, with limited evidence regarding students' perspectives regarding the use of VR. Therefore, this study explored nursing students’ views of using VR in healthcare and in nurse education.

Methods:
A qualitative descriptive study design was used. Undergraduate nursing students (n=26) were recruited from a university in the south of the Republic of Ireland using convenience and snowball sampling. They were first exposed to a VR intervention aimed to enhance men's awareness of testicular diseases. This was attempted to familiarise participants with the technology and initiate conversations around its use. Participants were then interviewed face-to-face, either individually or within focus groups. Data were analysed using inductive thematic analysis.

Results:
From a nurse education perspective, three themes were constructed from the interviews:
(i) captivating, innovative, and empowering nature of VR;
(ii) contextual transfer; and
(iii) challenges and threats to actualisation.

Participants believed that VR affords a novel, fun, memorable, inclusive, and engaging means of learning. Many believed that VR would complement current teaching and learning approaches, help build learners' confidence, and provide nursing students with a safe space for trial, error, and problem-solving. The use of VR was recommended to practise various nursing skills and learn about human anatomy, physiology, problem-solving, and clinical decision-making. Participants identified the resources incurred by the technology as challenges to implementing VR in nurse education and stressed the need for continuous face-to-face feedback.

As for the use of VR in healthcare, four themes were identified including:
(i) positive experiences of VR;
(ii) challenges to using VR;
(iii) settings where VR can be implemented; and
(iv) blue-sky and future applications of VR.

In a healthcare context, participants described VR as novel, enjoyable, immersive, memorable, and inclusive. They questioned, however, the suitability of VR for older adults, reported minor technical difficulties, and stressed the importance of prior preparation in the use of the technology. VR was recommended for use in outpatient healthcare settings, schools, and the community. Participants suggested using VR in health promotion, disease prevention and management, and to promote nurses’ empathy towards patients.

Conclusions:
VR technology can facilitate learning, complement current educational approaches, and provide nurse educators with novel and engaging means of content delivery. VR can also be implemented in outpatient, educational, and community settings to promote health, prevent disease, enhance disease and self-management, and increase nurses’ empathy towards patients. Future research is needed to establish the long-term effect of VR interventions among more diverse participants.

Keywords:

Virtual reality, nursing, undergraduate, qualitative research, education, healthcare.