International Journal of Healthcare Simulation

Background:

The COVID-19 Pandemic changed the way teaching and learning could be delivered at Sheffield Hallam University; the use of virtual simulation was explored to enhance the student experience and prepare students for placement.

Aim:

The aim of the study was to evaluate the application of virtual simulation for pre-registration nursing students.

Method/design:

Oxford Medical Simulation (OMS) is an immersive, interactive, virtual healthcare simulation platform that allows participants to engage in a wide range of clinical scenarios. The environment, patient and other team members are fully interactive, with conversation and physiology adapting to students’ actions and treatment. The educational focus is on decision-making, clinical reasoning and critical thinking to improve patient care.

Implementation outline:

A programme was developed to allow students to take part in lecturer-led sessions where OMS was used to practise the assessment and management of an unwell patient. Virtual scenarios lasting 15–20 minutes were managed by the lecturer, with students offering their contributions to determine the steps they wanted to take to manage the patient. Screen sharing of the virtual simulation via Zoom allowed students to take part in the scenarios from home. Learning outcomes predominantly focussed on A to E assessment, encouraging students who had never encountered a ‘real’ patient before in a clinical setting to begin to develop a structured approach. Evaluation of introduction of OMS to Nursing Course. This evaluation describes the benefits realized between the launch of OMS in November 2020 and 1 January 2021. The data presented include qualitative and quantitative data collated and analysed from student online survey responses. Data from 188 purposively sampled student participants were collated and analysed. The qualitative data demonstrated improvements in the student experience, under the following themes: (a) preparing students for placement, helping to apply knowledge to practice and improve decision-making; (b) developing confidence, providing a safe learning space – able to make mistakes without patients coming to harm. Students were also asked to rate their level of satisfaction on a 5-point scale (where 5 was most satisfied). The median rating for the 55.9% (n = 105) student responses was 5.0 with no statistical difference between identifiable fields of nursing (X² (2)=1.882; p = 0.390). As Ingrassia et al. ^[1] point out, ‘there is great uncertainty about how COVID-19 will impact future training in simulation facilities’ (p = 0.2), and moving forward, in the altered climate in which we find ourselves, OMS might be considered an important complement to the future teaching and learning experience.