Training situational awareness for scrub nurses: Error recognition in a virtual operating room

• Published in: Nurse education in practice 2021-05, Vol.53, p.103056-103056, Article 103056
• Main Authors: Bracq, Marie-Stéphanie, Michinov, Estelle, Le Duff, Marie, Arnaldi, Bruno, Gouranton, Valérie, Jannin, Pierre
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acknowledgment; Anxiety; Cognitive ability; Cognitive science; Computer Simulation; Doctoral Students; Education; Environment; Environmental Influences; Ethics; Graduate students; High risk; Humanities and Social Sciences; Hygiene; Internship Programs; Learning; Medical Education; Medical errors; Medical research; Non-technical skills; Nurses; Nursing; Nursing education; Nursing schools; Nursing Students; Operating theatres; Patient safety; Pedagogy; Professional ethics; Professional training; Psychology; Resistance (Psychology); Risk assessment; Scrub nurses; Self Efficacy; Simulation; Situation awareness; Technical skills; Trainees; Training Methods; Tutors; Usability; Virtual reality; Virtual reality simulation
• ISSN: 1471-5953; 1873-5223
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nepr.2021.103056

Virtual reality simulation provides interesting opportunities to train nurses in a safe environment. While the virtual operating room has proven to be a useful training tool for technical skills, it has been less studied for non-technical skills. This study aimed to assess “Error recognition in a virtual operating room”, using a simulation scenario designed to improve situation awareness. Eighteen scrub-nurse students and 8 expert scrub-nurses took part in the experiment. They were immersed in a virtual operating room and reported any errors they observed. There were nineteen errors with various degrees of severity. Measures were retrieved from logs (number of errors, time for detection, movements) and from questionnaires (situation awareness, subjective workload, anxiety and user experience). The results showed that the participants who detected most errors had a higher level of situation awareness, detected high-risk errors faster and felt more immersed in the virtual operating room than those detecting fewer errors. They also felt the workload was lighter and experienced more satisfaction. Students explored the operating room more than experts did and detected more errors, especially those with moderate risk. Debriefings confirmed that virtual simulation is acceptable to trainees and motivates them. It also provides useful and original material for debriefings. •The VR scenario allows an assessment of situation awareness.•The VR scenario is a suitable tool for initial and in-service training.•VR technology is well accepted and motivates trainees.•VR simulator provides data for personalised debriefing (patterns of movements).