Abstract

Because they provide low-risk, immersive approaches to introduce pre-licensure students to clinical contexts while also situating the development of necessary information and skills for patient care, simulations are commonly used in undergraduate nursing education. In the field of clinical education, virtual reality (VR) simulations provide fresh options. Research in this field is exploding, with topics ranging from perceptions of virtual reality as a medium to adoption of the technology to educational outcomes that virtual reality simulations may assist achieve. In this paper, we demonstrate the application of epistemic network analysis (ENA), a quantitative ethnography (QE) technique, to model how one nursing educator facilitated clinical judgement, nurtured quality and safety education for nurses' competencies, and nurtured quality and safety education for nurses' competencies through the use of the Simulation Learning System with Virtual Reality (SLS VR) (SLS with VR). Three simulation sessions in October and November 2020, all containing a basics scenario requiring second-year nursing students to exercise basic assessment and care management, were used to create a model of the discourse. Using immersive learning environments and learning analytic tools, we want to make significant advances in research in healthcare education, especially nursing education, in order to benefit patients and the public.