Effects of Virtual Reality Practice as Simulation-based Education on Multi Tasks of Nursing

Background: Nurses must make accurate decisions when caring for patients, even when multitasking. A wrong decision may endanger life. Student nurses are responsible only for single patients during their clinical practice. New graduates have minimal experience with multitasking. We developed a virtual reality (VR) multitasking simulation and evaluated its effectiveness. Methods: Student nurses prioritized tasks when caring for patients. We performed a randomized control trial enrolling senior nursing students who were randomly divided into two groups; thus, an interventional group (13 students) and a control group (performing a paper-based exercise; 14 students). The educational outcomes were measured by asking multiple-choice questions. Subjective confidence was assessed using a Visual Analog Scale. Results and Discussion: The educational outcomes did not differ significantly between the two groups. Subjective confidence was significantly higher in the intervention than in the control group. Conclusion: Although the VR simulation did not improve education, it significantly increased subjective confidence.