UbiSim Makes Virtual Reality Simulation Practical for Nursing

Emerging technologies like immersive virtual reality are transforming nursing education during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. When deciding which immersive virtual reality platform is best for your program, it is important for educators to select one that is practical and sustainable. This ensures that high quality simulation experiences will be scalable and available to all learners throughout your program.At UbiSim, it is our mission to make immersive virtual reality practical so that all learners can benefit from this innovative modality. Read on to learn about our advancements in accomplishing this mission!‍

Why Practicality Matters

‍The many benefits of immersive virtual reality simulation are maximized when the platform is scalable to many learners. Participants in immersive virtual reality simulations don a headset and interact within a realistic clinical environment as they develop clinical judgment and key transferable skills they will need to provide safe nursing care. Using immersive virtual reality simulation has educational benefits, including non-inferior learning outcomes when compared with traditional methods and improvements in cognitive, psychomotor, and affective skills. A recent study shows that learners using immersive virtual reality are 2.3 times more engaged and emotionally connected to the content than those learning from a computer screen. Learners are also up to 4 times more focused when training with immersive virtual reality. The use of immersive virtual reality in nursing education is projected to increase from 10% to 40% over the next 5 years. The recent democratization of immersive virtual reality has made the equipment more available and affordable, but simulation is a technique and not solely a technology. High quality simulation-based experiences must also include robust educational content and scenarios that align with student learning objectives and expected outcomes. Now with UbiSim’s platform, quality nursing educational content is as easily accessible as the VR equipment itself.

Watch students collaborate in an immersive virtual reality simulation!

The Editor: A Powerful Authoring Tool for Nursing Simulations

‍Scenario design is now easier than ever using the Editor, our powerful and intuitive simulation authoring tool. The Editor guides educators through the entire process of designing immersive virtual reality simulations that adhere to best practice standards. Educators are empowered to combine their existing skills and knowledge with the Editor to efficiently design simulation-based experiences that are specific to the needs of their target learners. Nursing educators are busy and need a simulation solution that adapts to their needs. With the Editor,  simulation scenarios can be implemented in a variety of ways. Educators can choose from UbiSim’s catalog of premade scenarios that are written in accordance with best practice standards and do not require any customization prior to implementation. Educators can also spend a reasonable amount of time customizing the premade scenarios to meet specific learning objectives, with very small changes resulting in an entirely new learning experience. For a simulation experience that is completely curated for your students and program, educators can also create their own scenarios from scratch. This is an excellent way to provide a simulation-based experience focused on patient populations in your community that students will realistically care for in the clinical setting. Nursing educators find the Editor to be intuitive and efficient, reporting that it takes less time to design scenarios than when using manikin-based programs. This allows educators to focus on the scenario content as they design meaningful simulations that meet their students’ specific and objectives and outcomes.

UbiSim’s intuitive, web-based Editor has a variety of care environments and patients across the lifespan

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Community Sharing Feature: A Collaborative Space for Sharing Simulation Scenarios with Colleagues

‍Dissemination of knowledge is the  cornerstone of scholarship in all educational fields, including nursing. In simulation, there is a significant need for high quality scenarios that align with best practice standards. To increase the availability of evidence-based scenarios, UbiSim is releasing an exciting Community Sharing feature this year. With this new feature, educators using UbiSim can now elect to share the scenarios they have created with fellow UbiSim partners worldwide. We are inspired by the scenarios our partners have designed with the Editor and are excited to provide a platform where this excellent work can be disseminated. Educators can also use the Community Sharing feature to implement high quality scenarios created by fellow UbiSim partners. The scenarios will focus on addressing significant problems in healthcare, from patient safety issues to the care of medically underserved populations.

Collaboration with the iRIS Platform

‍Nursing educators are busy and need to work efficiently when designing learning activities. Many educators have scenarios they currently use with manikins or standardized patients and do not want to recreate these scenarios when adopting a new simulation platform. When integrating immersive virtual reality simulation into their programs, educators can benefit from the option to transport their existing work into the new platform. To this end, we are excited to announce our partnership with the iRIS platform as we further our mission of making immersive virtual reality more practical for educators. iRIS is a web-based application that allows educators to create simulation scenarios that can be implemented on a variety of equipment and platforms. Educators using iRIS can now seamlessly export their existing simulation scenarios into the UbiSim Editor. This allows educators to judiciously use time and resources as they maximize their existing simulation content in the UbiSim platform.  

Educators can design scenarios with a variety of patient symptoms and conditions

When considering a new educational modality, practicality in application and adoption is a primary concern for educators. The new platform must be intuitive and seamlessly integrate into existing workflows. UbiSim is an eminently practical simulation platform that allows for easy scenario customization with the Editor, encourages collaboration with the Community Sharing feature, and enables efficiency by integrating with the iRIS platform. Educators who embrace the UbiSim system will find it a practical, intuitive product that puts the focus on the learner, and not the technology.

Ready to learn more about UbiSim? Contact us for a free demo!