Manitoba nursing students enter virtual reality world

Students here at the College of Nursing at the University of Manitoba are using virtual reality kits as part of their curriculum, which gives more of an immersive learning experience than some other virtual learning tools.

Virtual reality is not just being used to play games, but it is now being used in health care life-like scenarios, as nursing students at the U of M now enter the virtual reality world. 

“By doing it in virtual reality, they have experience, they have exposure, which really helps them with some of their decision-making when they are out there in the clinical environment,” said Dr. Nicole Harder, an associate professor at the College of Nursing at the University of Manitoba.

The college opened two VR learning rooms at the university earlier this year and is being used in conjunction with existing simulation programs that use manikins and standardized patients.

“We do more of the prioritization, some of the mental health types of scenarios, things that really use some of their socio-emotive skills, the planning, the clinical decision making, things where you have to be able to watch the students make decision in virtual reality,” said Harder.

The College of Nursing program has expanded by 50 per cent, adding 120 students, and this was possible due to the implementation of VR simulations in 2022.

“We tailor the simulations to meet their needs, knowing where they are, what their level is, within the simulation,” said Sufia Turner, simulation program lead instructor at the College of Nursing.

“We’re really focusing on that one-on-one with the patient, critical thinking and their problem solving, as opposed to things like skills or the skill acquisition.”

Turner says the scenarios in the program are high-frequency simulations, things that the students will see when they go into clinical.

“For example, it would be something like Diabetes, that’s very common, or a heart attack, dehydration, UTI – common scenarios that our students, when they go into clinical, see.”

Manitoba Nurses Union President Darlene Jackson says the use of VR headsets is a good place for nursing students to get the feel of what it is like to be in an emergency situation.

She says there is a major nursing shortage across the province, and the nurses that are working, are experiencing burn-out. She says it’s crucially important to start recruiting young nurses to help fill those much-needed positions.

“We really do need to stress how important it is to have mentor’s out there for these new nurses when they come out. Someone they can go through an experience with, debrief and talk about it,” said Jackson.

“I think that is crucially important when these young students come out, is to have an experienced nurse who has time to spend time with them, and really work with them to get used to these situations.”