Implementation and Evaluation of a Low Cost Virtual Environment for Nursery Training in Intensive Care Units

Abstract

The main objective of this work is to implement and evaluate a low cost virtual environment of an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for educational purposes, targeting third year Nursery students who have never visited an ICU before. To achieve this, an interactive 360-degree environment is created, which is experienced through a Virtual Reality (VR) headset, depicting a simulated clinical case in a simulation room. The environment was tested with university students who had previously visited ICUs, as well as with expert ICU professionals. Through questionnaires, we evaluated the nursing assessment needs, the level of presence, and the satisfaction of the students with the VR experience. The results were compared between professionals and students. The findings indicate that there are no significant differences between the two groups regarding the sense of presence. The environment aids in the assessment of nursing needs for critically ill patients.