Education, Nursing, Medication Errors, Patient Safety
Conditions
Keywords
Virtual reality, Simulation training, Medication administration, Nursing students, Confidence, Usability, Cybersickness
Brief summary
This study evaluated a virtual reality-based training programme designed to support safe medication administration among undergraduate nursing students. Medication administration is a core nursing competency, but students often have limited opportunities to practise medication safety scenarios repeatedly before entering clinical settings. Virtual reality provides an immersive and repeatable simulated environment for practising routine, high-alert, and semi-emergency medication administration scenarios without risk to patients. Third- and fourth-year undergraduate nursing students at a healthcare university in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, were randomly allocated to two groups. Group A received the VR training first, while Group B served as a wait-list comparison group and received the same training later, after crossover. The intervention consisted of three 90-minute sessions, each including pre-briefing, immersive VR simulation, and PEARLS-informed debriefing. Outcomes included confidence in medication administration, self-reported safe medication practice, system usability, and cybersickness symptoms.
Interventions
BEHAVIORALVR-based medication administration training (AcroXeR NursingVR)
The intervention consisted of three 90-minute VR-based medication administration training sessions covering routine, high-alert, and semi-emergency medication administration scenarios. Each session included pre-briefing, immersive VR simulation, and PEARLS-informed debriefing.
Sponsors
University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City
Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA)
Study design
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
NONE
Intervention model description
This was a two-arm randomized wait-list crossover trial. Group A received the VR-based medication administration training first, while Group B served as a wait-list comparison group and received no training during that initial period, then received the same VR training after crossover. Outcomes were assessed for both groups at three points: at baseline before any training; approximately one week after Group A completed training (while Group B was still on the wait-list); and approximately one week after Group B completed training.
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
Yes
Inclusion criteria
* Enrolled as a third- or fourth-year undergraduate nursing student during the study period * Aged 18 years or older
Exclusion criteria
* Health condition contraindicating virtual reality use * On academic leave during the study period * Unable to attend the scheduled study sessions
Design outcomes
Primary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Confidence in medication administration | Baseline (before any training); approximately 5 weeks after baseline (about 1 week after Group A completed VR training, while Group B remained on the wait-list); approximately 3 months after baseline (about 1 week after Group B completed VR training). | Confidence in medication administration was measured using a 6-item self-report scale. Each item was rated from 1 (not at all confident) to 5 (extremely confident). Total scores range from 6 to 30, with higher scores indicating greater confidence. |
Secondary
| Measure | Time frame | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Self-reported safe medication practice | Baseline (before any training); approximately 5 weeks after baseline (about 1 week after Group A completed VR training, while Group B remained on the wait-list); approximately 3 months after baseline (about 1 week after Group B completed VR training). | Self-reported safe medication practice was assessed using the 28-item Patient Safety Assessment in Medication Administration. Each item was rated from 1 (never) to 5 (always). Total scores range from 28 to 140, with higher scores indicating more frequent adherence to safe medication administration practices. |
| System usability | Approximately 1 week after each group completed VR training (approximately 5 weeks after baseline for Group A and approximately 3 months after baseline for Group B). | Usability of the VR system was assessed using the 10-item System Usability Scale. Scores were converted to a 0 to 100 scale, with higher scores indicating better perceived usability. |
| Cybersickness symptoms | Approximately 1 week after each group completed VR training (approximately 5 weeks after baseline for Group A and approximately 3 months after baseline for Group B). | Cybersickness was assessed using the 16-item Simulator Sickness Questionnaire. Items were rated from 0 (none) to 3 (severe), and nausea, oculomotor, disorientation, and total scores were calculated using the standard scoring method. |
Countries
Vietnam
Contacts
PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORLinh Thuy Khanh Tran, PhD
University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City
Outcome results
None listed