HealthMarch 28, 2023

Virtual Reality in nursing education goes mainstream

As with any new technology, there is a natural hype cycle where the ideas of how it can be used far surpasses what the technology can do. While the long-term viability of the many uses for virtual reality (VR) — from online concerts to real estate and gaming — is still up for debate, it's clear that VR in healthcare is here to stay and it’s making an impact.

The uptake of VR is a trend that nursing educators have seen coming, and they predict the technology will power the classroom of the future. By 2025, VR is expected to achieve mainstream adoption in nursing programs across the United States, according to research conducted by Wolters Kluwer and the National League for Nursing (NLN).

And the reasons couldn’t be more critical to the future of the profession. In 2021, nearly 92,000 qualified nursing school applicants were turned away due to a confluence of factors – from a lack of sufficient clinical sites and classroom space, to budget and resource constraints.

Scaling nursing education with VR

Against this backdrop, it’s been predicted that the United States needs 450,000 new nurses to make up for the shortfall of nurses. We need to double the number of new graduates entering and staying in the nursing workforce. Every year for the next three years.

Is it possible? Only if we can all get behind a new way to prepare nurses for practice. VR is poised to help scale up the number of new, practice-ready nurses.

Download the infographic below to learn more about the timelines to adoption based on a survey of nursing school deans, program directors, and faculty conducted by Wolters Kluwer in collaboration with the NLN.

Learn more about taking your nursing education program to the next level with VR.

Learn About VRClinicals For Nursing 

Infographic: Reimagining the classroom of the future

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