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Learning Objective 1: State the benefit of multi-disciplinary collaboration to generate innovative technologies that increase patient safety through the enhancement of nursing education.
Learning Objective 2: Recognize the value of virtual patient scenarios designed to stimulate critical thinking and decision making of the player/student nurse in a risk free environment.
In an attempt to evaluate nursing students’ ability to demonstrate critical thinking in the management of critical events without risk to patient safety, virtual patient care scenarios are an invaluable tool. The Oakland University School of Nursing in collaboration with Oakland University School of Engineering developed a 3-D computer game (VIMED). VIMED was designed to expose technology native nursing students to a virtual hospital unit where the player/student manages patient care in a risk-free environment.
The game has two subsystems; the game itself, which has four phases and the evaluation subsystem. In the first phase, signing in, the student logs in and their profile is loaded to be saved for debriefing with faculty after session completion. In the second phase, briefing, the student attains information regarding their patients’ condition(s) for the shift. The third phase, shift in progress, is the actual play of the game where the student administers patient care, making decisions based on the patients’ response to a variety of available interventions. The final phase, signing off, occurs at the end of the shift, or when all of the patients enter irreversible coma. The second sub-system of the 3D game, the evaluation subsystem, generates a student log which provides information about the patients’ dynamic status as well as the interventions executed by the player/student. The log allows for rich discussion between the student and faculty that elicits further critical thinking specific to patient care. This profile will also allow faculty to alter the game intensity and as well as control the future generation of patient assignments according to the player/student’s past performance. In order to test the design of the game system VIMED is currently being piloted on a small sample of nursing students at Oakland University. Preliminary results of player/student performance and general game effectiveness will be presented.