Which professional contexts can enrich the training of medication skills of nurses through virtual reality?

Samenvatting

Every day, nurses find themselves in complex professional situations wherein they have to check, prepare, distribute, administer and evaluate medication for their patients. Skills in high-risk professional practices can be strengthened and preserved through lifelike virtual simulation training. Medication administration requires not only theoretical knowledge about medicines, medication safety and medication calculations, but also skills to apply this knowledge precisely and efficiently under various circumstances. Automation of computational and medication skills in various (virtual) situations reduces the burden on nurses’ working memories and ensures a shorter decision making process, which improves analytical and problem solving abilities. To explore which medication situations nurses experience, we interviewed 15 hospital and home care nurses. We will use the results as starting point for the design of a virtual reality training program.