UbiSim Releases Nurse Readiness Crisis Report

New data reveals almost half of nurses thought about quitting during their first year on the job, with 31% citing inadequate preparation for the realities of nursing as a primary reason. 

BOSTON (October 8, 2024) – UbiSim, the world’s first immersive virtual reality (VR) training platform built specifically for nurses, today released the findings of The Nurse Readiness Crisis: What Nursing Students Say They Need to Be Patient-Ready, which surveyed 800 individuals who received nursing education in the last five years in the United States. Bridging the gap between education and real-world practice is essential, yet the data found that new nurses in high-stakes environments may lack the confidence or practical skills needed as they begin their roles. 

The journey to becoming a nurse presents significant physical, mental, and emotional challenges – from long clinical hours to demanding coursework, requiring both resilience and skill. According to The Nurse Readiness Crisis Report, 42% of nurses considered quitting in their first year due to inadequate preparation. Almost a quarter (21%) of students who dropped out or considered dropping out of nursing school cited difficulty in applying knowledge to practical situations as a key reason. Upon graduating from their nursing program, an alarming 35% of nurses felt unprepared to cope with high-stress environments. 

The data underscores the critical need for nursing education to evolve and incorporate more hands-on, immersive training solutions that can help bridge this gap between theory and practice. Immersive technologies, like virtual reality (VR) simulation, have emerged as powerful tools to do just that. Nearly all students (92%) who had access to immersive simulation training reported that it was an integral part of their curriculum, and 89% said it helped them better prepare for real-world scenarios. 

"I recall the fears I had during my own training—the fear of making mistakes, not knowing enough, and not doing enough for my patients and their families,” said Christine Vogel, MSN, RN, CHSE, CHSOS, Lead Nurse Educator for UbiSim. “The findings in the Nurse Readiness Crisis Report resonate with my experience and highlight the need for immersive, hands-on training to prepare students for complex care early in their education. With increasing patient acuity and workloads, today’s nursing students face even greater pressures as they navigate the challenges of building competence and resilience in demanding clinical settings.”

Unlike traditional clinical rotations, where students may only encounter certain high-stakes situations once or twice under supervision, VR simulation can recreate a wide variety of clinical scenarios, enabling students to practice essential skills repeatedly until they feel confident. Furthermore, institutions that invest in mentorship programs and mental health resources can significantly improve both student satisfaction and retention. A significant 75% of students said increased access to instructors would have made a meaningful difference to their education, highlighting the importance of the student-faculty relationship and the impact of the critical shortage of nurse educators.

"Our research underscores the critical gap in nursing education that is leaving students underprepared for the real-world challenges they face after graduation,” said Shawn Boom, CEO of Labster ApS, UbiSim’s parent company. “Immersive technology like UbiSim’s virtual reality nursing simulation can be a powerful solution to bridge this readiness gap by providing every nursing student with the realistic training they need to deliver the highest quality of patient care from day one on the job."  

Additional key findings include:

• - Nurses in critical care and emergency settings who considered dropping out of nursing school were 42% and 39% more likely than average, respectively, to say that VR simulation training would have improved their experience. 
• - Critical care nurses were alarmingly 47% more likely than average to feel unprepared to utilize medical technology after graduation, and obstetrics nurses were 39% more likely to feel unprepared to manage abusive patients or distressed family members.
• - Rural students often lack access to clinical placements in cutting-edge medical facilities, putting them at a disadvantage compared to their urban counterparts. Notably, those who attended nursing school in rural settings were 29% more likely than average to say VR would have improved their educational experience.

Commenting about these findings, recent nurse graduate Bailey Arrata said, "Simulation as a part of my overall education was quite important, and UbiSim gave me the additional practice and confidence I needed to assess and treat patients. My competence was built from my confidence to speak up, request to take the lead, and ask questions.” 

To learn more about the Nurse Readiness Crisis Survey, read the executive summary.

METHODOLOGY

The Nurse Readiness Crisis survey was conducted between August 13th and August 29th, 2024. UbiSim commissioned Kickstand Research to conduct a survey of 800 respondents in the United States who have received nursing education in the last 5 years. The study was conducted at 95% confidence with a +/- 3.5% margin of error.

ABOUT UBISIM

UbiSim™ is the leading immersive virtual reality (VR) training platform dedicated specifically to nursing by Labster. By combining evidence-based immersive VR simulations with an intuitive, web-based authoring tool, UbiSim empowers faculty to customize and design simulations that are curated for their students' learning objectives and align with the Next Generation NCLEX test plan and AACN Essentials domains. UbiSim is in use at hundreds of nursing institutions to advance the shared mission of addressing the nursing shortage by reducing the cost, time, and logistical challenges of traditional simulation methods and scaling high-quality nursing education. Founded in 2016, UbiSim was acquired by Labster ApS (www.labster.com) in 2021 and is the VR/AR solution winner in the EdTech Digest 2024 Cool Tool Awards and the Career Prep Platform of the Year in the 2024 EdTech Breakthrough Awards. Visit www.ubisimvr.com.

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