FRIDAY, March 15, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Implementation of a virtual reality-based training curriculum is associated with nurses' improved recognition of pediatric respiratory distress at three and six months, compared with standard training approaches, according to a study published in the March issue of the American Journal of Critical Care.
Dana L. Raab, R.N., from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, and colleagues assessed whether a virtual reality curriculum improved new nurses' recognition of respiratory distress and impending respiratory failure in pediatric patients. Analysis included 168 new nurses who were randomly assigned to complete either an immersive virtual reality curriculum on recognition of respiratory distress or the usual orientation curriculum (control).
The researchers found that nurses in the intervention group were significantly more likely to correctly recognize impending respiratory failure at both three months (23.4 versus 3.0 percent) and six months (31.9 versus 2.6 percent). Additionally, nurses in the intervention group were more likely to identify respiratory distress without impending respiratory failure at three months (57.8 versus 29.6 percent) and six months (57.9 versus 17.8 percent), and recognize patients' altered mental status at three months (51.4 versus 18.2 percent) and six months (46.8 versus 18.4 percent).
"Virtual reality may offer a new approach to nurse orientation to enhance training in pediatrics-specific assessment skills," the authors write.
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