ABSTRACT
AIMS: This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy, attitude, and level of confidence among nursing students as scrub nurses in a perioperative environment via virtual-reality simulation. BACKGROUND: The advantages of virtual reality have been demonstrated to provide a safe and effective mechanism to educate and evaluate students' performances, but the use of virtual reality in perioperative nursing remained limited. METHODS: Nineteen sessions were conducted in a room equipped with virtual-reality headsets and two touch controllers. The surgical workflow of a scrub nurse was developed based on qualitative perspectives from nursing faculties and hospital clinicians working in operating theaters. A survey on the efficacy, attitude, and level of confidence among the participants was conducted after the virtual-reality simulation. RESULTS: Two hundred and seven nursing students due for their clinical posting in operating theaters completed the evaluation. More than 90% of them indicated "neutral" and above in terms of efficacy, attitude, and confidence level with Cronbach's α values exceeding .90. CONCLUSIONS: Virtual reality offers promising potential as an alternative clinical experience to physical simulation for nursing students to increase their efficacy, attitude, and level of confidence as scrub nurses in a perioperative environment through a standardized scenario-based digital environment.
