Immersive Virtual Reality Training From Wolters Kluwer & Laerdal Medical Transports Nursing Students to a Busy Hospital Floor

Wolters Kluwer, Health and Laerdal Medical today announced the development of vrClinicals for Nursing, an immersive, virtual reality (VR) nursing education experience designed to strengthen practice readiness. vrClinicals is built on evidence-based scenarios authored by the National League for Nursing (NLN) that simulate a realistic hospital environment, including challenging elements such as multiple patient scenarios, and interruptions to better prepare students in delivering quality patient care.

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vrClinicals for Nursing prepares students for medical practice by building clinical judgment and multi-patient prioritization skills. (Photo: Business Wire)

Limitations that impact real-life clinical training for nursing students, including a lack of physical clinical site availability and an unpredictable mix of patients, have opened the door for safe, resource-effective training modalities, such as VR, that offer a greater breadth of experiences. Students using vrClinicals for Nursing with a Meta™ Quest 2 headset will be immersed in an authentic, virtual clinical environment where they must navigate real challenges nurses encounter on the job – such as prioritizing multiple patients with varied, complex cases, interruptions from colleagues, or patient requests.

According to Leila Casteel, DNP, APRN, NP-C, a practicing family nurse practitioner and Associate Vice President, Curriculum & Innovation at Herzing University, “The vrClinicals for Nursing solution offers just the right amount of urgency that students need to hit the ground running once they enter clinical practice. It prepares students to think critically and hone their prioritization skills across multiple, diverse patients and clinical scenarios, which mirrors the day-to-day unpredictability of nursing.”

Nursing shortage puts pressure on new nurses 

Newly licensed nurses are increasingly managing higher patient caseloads and must refine their independent clinical judgement earlier in their careers, especially with the impacts of the current nursing shortage. To better prepare today’s nursing students for this environment with a backdrop of limited clinical opportunities, educational tools using metaverse related technologies can provide a broad range of experiences that reflect the expectations of real-world practice.

“Using immersive virtual reality, vrClinicals for Nursing allows students to benefit from clinical training in a controlled environment where they can safely make and learn from their mistakes,” said Julie Stegman, Vice President, Nursing Segment, Health Learning, Research & Practice at Wolters Kluwer, Health. “This experiential learning fosters in-the-moment decision making that allows students to react and reflect on the decisions they’ve made in multiple, complex care scenarios. Developing this skillset early is essential to ensuring nurses feel confident as they onboard, while shortening their ramp-up for clinical practice.”

Promoting clinical preparedness with virtual reality 

With fewer on-site educational opportunities available, VR technology is meeting the need for realistic, experiential learning for student nurses that allows them to receive real-time feedback in a hospital setting, without putting patients at risk.

“Using Virtual Reality, we are filling a gap in nursing education with immersive training that puts the student in a life-like clinical setting where they practice being a nurse and caring for a diverse set of patients. The goal is to develop their ability and confidence in clinical judgement,” said Cansu Akarsu, Vice President of Healthcare Education at Laerdal Medical

vrClinicals for Nursing can be used as a building block on top of the critical clinical decision-making skills developed in vSim® for Nursing. Progressing from the screen-based, simulated single-patient scenario in vSim for Nursing to the advanced multi-patient, complex care scenarios within vrClinicals allows students to virtually practice in a clinical setting.

Learn more about vrClinicals for Nursing

Discover Wolters Kluwer’s metaverse related technology at IMSH 

vrClinicals for Nursing, which was co-developed with Laerdal Medical, builds on the successful collaboration between Laerdal Medical and Wolters Kluwer. Be sure to visit Wolters Kluwer at Booth 747 at the International Meeting on Simulation in Healthcare (IMSH), held January 21-25, 2023, in Orlando, Florida to experience vrClinicals, as well as other recent additions to Wolters Kluwer’s virtual reality and simulation-based offerings.

(Meta and Quest are trademark of Meta Platforms, Inc.)

About Wolters Kluwer 

Wolters Kluwer (WKL) is a global leader in professional information, software solutions, and services for the clinicians, nurses, accountants, lawyers, and tax, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and regulatory sectors. We help our customers make critical decisions every day by providing expert solutions that combine deep domain knowledge with advanced technology and services.

Wolters Kluwer reported 2021 annual revenues of €4.8 billion. The group serves customers in over 180 countries, maintains operations in over 40 countries, and employs approximately 20,000 people worldwide. The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands.

Wolters Kluwer, Health provides trusted clinical technology and evidence-based solutions that engage clinicians, patients, researchers and students in effective decision-making and outcomes across healthcare. We support clinical effectiveness, learning and research, clinical surveillance and compliance, as well as data solutions. For more information about our solutions, visit https://www.wolterskluwer.com/en/health and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @WKHealth.

For more information, visit www.wolterskluwer.com, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

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