McLean is completing a task that licensed practical nurses need to know on the job: maintaining an IV line for a patient with nausea. But she is practicing it in a place where the stakes are lower and the supplies seemingly endless — a virtual reality (VR) scenario, set up in an experimental classroom at NorQuest College in Edmonton, where McLean starts the final year of her practical nursing program this fall. “It’s kind of like a game,” she says. “I feel it’s more calming than the lab work. I’m able to do much better here than in the lab, where I’m a little bit nervous.” An entertainment tool in rec rooms across the country, VR is increasingly finding its way into workplaces and educational settings, including Alberta post-secondary institutions that offer the practical nurse diploma program, such as NorQuest College and Bow Valley College.
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“The modality of education is changing, so we’re trying to adapt to that,” says registered nurse Sima Mehrabi, an instructor in NorQuest’s practical nursing program. For the past year or so, practical nursing students there have been getting opportunities to complement their lab courses and clinical training with VR software designed to test their knowledge and hone their skills in IV maintenance and insulin administration. The medication administration focus was very carefully selected based on student performance in existing clinical courses, instructor feedback, and scope of practice considerations for licensed practical nurses, explains Dustin Chan, senior manager in projects and innovation for NorQuest’s Faculty of Health and Community Studies.
