Assessment of preclinical learning using virtual reality based education for nursing students

Abstract

ABSTRACT These past few years society has experienced a worldwide pandemic that has affected every aspect of our lives. COVID-19 has forced institutions to integrate remote learning tools and techniques, even when most lack of resources to implement online methodologies. Education has been one of the areas greatly affected by these measures, making it compulsory to invest in new educational technologies to survive and succeed in a new normality scenario. The use of Virtual Reality has emerged as a great alternative thanks to the immersive aspects and practical experiences, but the question remains the same: What is the advantage of using virtual reality in the new normality we live in today? In this paper, a case study is presented to analyze the use of VR technologies to learn healthcare techniques recreating a preclinical VR scene that mimics a real life scenario for practices. This tool was used by students of the nursing degree at the University of Oviedo, who were able to take home the VR sets and carry out the practical assignments with the non-presence of an instructor. Several indicators are assessed and analysed using data gathered from the app, such as satisfaction, usability and learning factors, specifically designed for this study. With all results provided, this study shows that VR is a valid approach for online distance learning which does not have a negative effect in the acquisition of knowledge by the students, although an initial training on VR usage might be useful to consider in future research.