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Virtual reality teaching in chemotherapy administration: Randomised controlled trial
Author(s) -
Chan HsiangYing,
Chang HanChao,
Huang TsaiWei
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of clinical nursing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.94
H-Index - 102
eISSN - 1365-2702
pISSN - 0962-1067
DOI - 10.1111/jocn.15701
Subject(s) - internship , medicine , virtual reality , randomized controlled trial , intervention (counseling) , nursing , medical education , computer science , artificial intelligence
Aims and objectives This study examined the effect of virtual reality (VR)‐based documents (VRdocs) on knowledge and attitude towards chemotherapy administration in nursing students. Background Chemotherapeutic drugs in cancer patients are a complicated and dangerous process. However, despite the high toxicity of the chemotherapeutic drugs, the compulsory or internship courses in nursing schools do not include training in operational chemotherapeutics and its associated safety measures. Design A randomised controlled trial based on the CONSORT 2010 guidelines (registry number: NCT03707210). Method A total of 77 students were randomised to an experimental (VRdocs, n = 38) or a control group ( n = 39). Pre‐ and posttest data were collected. After the pretest, the control group received the education documents, whereas, the experimental group used VR software consisting of an application about chemotherapy administration. Finally, the effectiveness of the intervention was self‐evaluated using questionnaires after 7 days. Results The posttest scores for knowledge (F = 6.412, p = .013) and attitude in the experimental group were significantly different from those in the control group (F = 8.469, p = .005). Compared with the control group, a significant number of students in the experimental group indicated their higher recommendation score for the VRdocs ( p = .0001). Conclusion Schools must provide a variety of handouts and teaching methods to educate nursing students about high‐risk nursing techniques. Methods using VR can address the shortcomings of the traditional documents, and the use of both methods simultaneously can produce better learning results. Relevance to clinical practice Virtual reality based documents were provided to the participants to understand the preparation, implementation, and safety of chemotherapy. VRdocs allow students to re‐learn high‐risk care techniques without the influence of time and space and may prove useful for other nursing courses.