Expanding Virtual Reality to Teach Ultrasound Skills to Nurse Practitioner Students.

Abstract

This team has had prior successful production efforts in the use of Second Life to implement a virtual reality world into both nursing education and practice. Our current efforts center around a virtual reality application that provides learners with the opportunity to master competencies in the use of ultrasound technologies, which have surfaced in many nurse practitioner certifications as a necessary skill. Using the authoring tool of CenarioVR™, and capturing video footage of a nurse practitioner using the ultrasound equipment, students can don a VR headset for an immersive experience. This ultrasound equipment is expensive, and allowing learners to learn skills in a virtual environment poses less risk to both the equipment and the patients.Future production efforts in augmented and mixed reality applications are described to engage others in cutting edge use of VR.