Stamford Health launches virtual reality metaverse training for nurses
Stamford Health is taking the way it trains nurses to the next dimension.
The care center launched a new program on Jan. 25 with Oxford Medical Simulation that lets nurses hone their skills on fictional virtual patients with simulated medical conditions in the metaverse. According to Oxford Medical Simulation, Stamford Health is the first health center in Connecticut to use its virtual reality program.
The training lets nurses conduct head-to-toe assessments on these “patients”, identify changes in their hemodynamics or lab values and practice patient care skills.
“Ultimately, using the soft skills and the communication and practicing that assessment, we believe it’s going to have a positive impact on our patients,” Stamford Health Center Simulation and Learning Manager Michelle Saglimbene said. “If a patient were to come into the metaverse hospital and the scenario is related to a patient experiencing chest pains, the software will actually track the nurses’ clinical skills in terms of putting the patient on a cardiac monitor and speaking to the doctor about the chest pains and possibly requesting an electrocardiogram.”
Stamford Health registered nurse Julia Wescott said the training has an emotional element due to how real it feels — but it allows nurses to learn and make mistakes without the stress of potentially harming a real patient.“When I put on the headset for the first time ... I wasn’t expecting to feel like I was actually in the room,” Wescott said.
The simulation collects data on each person using the technology, determines their medical skills and can create customized training plans to help users build skills they might be lacking in. In some scenarios, the virtual patients will deteriorate if they aren’t treated quickly.
The program launched with 11 nurses and around 90 medical residents, according to Saglimbene. Each nurse has completed a tutorial video and a scenario with a patient in the metaverse hospital. The program will also be open to those in Stamford Health’s GEMS groups, a 12-month program that aims to transition graduating nurses into clinical nursing.
“Our virtual reality, first and foremost, is intended to be something that is immersive and engaging. A lot of our younger nurses are young millennials and Gen-Zers, so this type of technology is something that they’re familiar with in the gaming industry,” Saglimbene said.
Executive Director of Research at Stamford Health Suzanne J. Rose said that this program helps supplement some of the hands-on training that nurses entering the workforce lost during the pandemic.
“We are giving them an extra boost on clinical experience that they missed out on,” Rose said. “They [can] experience a situation in the virtual world that they might not have been able to see because they didn’t have that bedside experience that they would have had if COVID didn’t happen.”
Oxford Medical Simulation is working with Stamford Health in order to add more features to the program including being able to make custom scenarios, making the virtual rooms mirror Stamford Hospital rooms and adding multiple-player options.
“The options and flexibility for us to expand the program where multiple learners can enter one single scenario and practice communication and teamwork during emergencies is hopefully our next step,” Saglimbene said.