3 Tech innovations improving nursing education
In the last decade, there has been an explosion of technological advances of every kind imaginable. When it comes to healthcare and nursing education, there is no exception. With no end in sight to severe nursing educator and clinical placement site shortages and in the aftermath of COVID-19 shutdowns, educators have been forced to consider other alternatives to meet the changing needs of students.
Most recent evidence-based research has shifted teaching from a traditional teacher-centered approach to a student-centered approach. According to neuroscience research, the traditional approach primarily uses only the posterior cortex, whereas enhanced learning with technology uses both the posterior and anterior areas of the brain cortex. Enhanced learning with technology improves education by tapping into different learning methods and styles.
These advances have been so successful that The National League for Nursing (NLN) Commission for Nursing Education Accreditation (CNEA) and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing have revised nursing curriculum standards, encouraging informatics and technology competencies in nursing education programs. With healthcare innovations also in place and growing rapidly through the use of technology, these skills will be required for the next generation to be proficient not only as students but also as nurses.
Here are three huge tech innovations that have dramatically improved nursing education:
Virtual and remote learning
When the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world, the doors to many educational institutions closed, forcing educators and students to become creative with remote and virtual learning strategies. An education technology innovation boom occurred. Now that education has resumed pre-pandemic status, hybrid learning models have been cemented into modern education.
Distance learning has far-reaching capabilities which can transcend diverse student populations and unique student needs. Many students feel virtual learning offers the ability to be more focused with fewer distractions than in-person learning can often produce. Using blended models of virtual and in-person ensures that physical barriers do not detract from educational goals yet still provide a face-to-face connection between students and faculty.
Portable devices and simulation labs
Laptops, mobile devices, and tablets have gone from being optional to being a necessity for students and healthcare providers. Digital resources enhance learning through many means, from PowerPoint presentations to the ability to rapidly obtain crucial information at your fingertips. Immediate access to educators and students through the use of email, chat groups, and video calls assures help and assistance when it’s needed and most convenient.
Simulation labs are a solution to the growing concerns related to the lack of clinical placement sites and reduced ability to provide nursing students with the required hands-on education that is critical. Great strides have been made to provide realistic training modules. Repeating simulations until a student reaches a level of competency is a great way to improve the hands-on experience. It also stimulates a student’s independence and self-learning. Simulation labs are not meant to replace in-person learning of essential skills, but as an excellent means to enhance and prepare students for actual in-person clinicals and the application of patient care skills and techniques.
VR and AR technology
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) are something that only a few years ago seemed futuristic and far off. What started as a technology for gaming platforms is now being injected into learning and other aspects of life.
VR is a headset device that completely takes over your vision to give you the impression that you’re somewhere else, whereas AR adds to your visual field as a transparent overlay. Both provide incredible means of adaptive learning and have limitless possibilities. Studies have overwhelmingly shown that VR technology improves student knowledge, but still limited in how that translates into measurable skill improvement. These methods also propose a new concern related to redesigning test measures to determine competency.
Using combinations of VR, AR, and simulations offers a unique blend of learning that creates a simulated patient environment that can be altered in endless ways to improve students' understanding. The use of 3D technology to comprehend the dimensions of the anatomy of a patient’s unique conditions that would be unable to be understood through any other method of learning makes these incredible tech innovations extraordinary.
The future of nursing education
As the nursing profession continues to grapple with severe educator and clinical placement shortages, technological advances punctuate real solutions and hope. Many educators and institutions still do not realize the full scope of potential that tech innovations offer. Technology advances continue to innovate every corner of our universe and should be embraced as ways our world is enhanced, including education. New models of education focusing on students and using tech innovations are the future of nursing students and healthcare education.