Nursing students’ experiences in virtual simulation practice

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to explore the meaning of nursing students’ experiences in virtual simulation practice.Methods: The participants were six nursing students who have experience in a virtual simulation. Data were collected from August to September 2019 through a focus group interview. Giorgi’s phenomenological method was used for analysis.Results: The study results revealed 3 constituents and 6 sub-constituents that are essential for nursing student’s experiences in a virtual simulation. The three constituents were: “Chaos in the virtual reality”, “The process of adjusting to chaos”, and “Becoming an independent nurse in a safe virtual reality”.Conclusion: Based on the results of this study, the following suggestions are made. Results suggest the development of virtual simulations in Korean, the use of simulations as a group activity first, and the use of simulation between lecture and practice or in the regular curriculum. The results of the study can be used as primary data for providing virtual simulation in nursing education.