Virtual Reality Interaction Toward the Replacement of Real Clinical Nursing Education

Abstract

Due to time and space constraints and limited resources, clinical nursing education in real-life environments has limitations for sufficient learning. In this paper, we propose a novel interaction method for immersive virtual simulations in clinical nursing that considers the characteristics and process of each to enable learners to learn and perform realistic nursing skills. First, (1) hand gestures and speech modalities can be used as input modalities according to each type of skill, and nursing skills can be performed while the degree of behavioral freedom is ensured. (2) The timing and method of evaluating the interaction of the skills to be learned vary depending on how they are performed through the analysis of hand gestures and speech input. (3) In addition, depending on the evaluation, this method can provide immediate feedback (e.g., audio-visual feedback) as well as feedback about accumulated nursing skills interaction, which can maximize the learning effects (e.g., additional quizzes and final clinical nursing results). With the actual nursing skill implemented by the proposed method, the feasibility of immersive VR nursing practice based on the pediatric pneumonia scenario was verified through a pilot study. As a result, high scores were obtained in a simple questionnaire evaluation, and the feasibility was confirmed through an interview evaluation of both learners and instructors. With the proposed method, it is expected that the quality of clinical nursing education can be improved while learning the details and the overall flow of nursing skills through realistic interactions.