Fostering reflective thinking and nursing students' competence in pressure injury care through immersive virtual reality: A randomized controlled trial.

Student takeaways

Key Takeaways

• The source frames wound care as the central nursing learning or practice issue.
• The record identifies the design as journal article randomized controlled trial, which should guide appraisal questions.
• The available abstract indicates: Despite extensive efforts, pressure injuries (PIs) remain a critical concern in healthcare quality. Consequently, robust training in PI prevention, assessment and management-tailored to....
• Country provenance is weak, so students should avoid assuming local transferability.
• Any application to practice should be checked against the original article, local guidelines, and the limits reported by the authors.

Source abstract

Study Overview

Despite extensive efforts, pressure injuries (PIs) remain a critical concern in healthcare quality. Consequently, robust training in PI prevention, assessment and management-tailored to the learning needs of new generations-is imperative for nursing undergraduates to ensure safe, effective and person-centred care delivery. To design, implement and evaluate an immersive virtual reality (IVR) training program for PI care, comparing its effects on nursing students' reflective thinking (RT) and clinical competence against conventional teaching approaches. Prospective, randomized, double-blind, parallel-group controlled trial. This study was conducted at a university in northern Spain. The study convenience sample comprised 93 second-year nursing students. The majority were female (93.4%) with a mean age of 19.3&#xa0;years. Importantly, 63.4% reported no prior experience with IVR. Six PI nursing care scenarios were designed and developed for IVR using head-mounted displays (Oculus Quest 2), in accordance with internationally recognized standards and evidence-based clinical guidelines. Key variables measured included RT capacity (using Gibbs cycle), knowledge gain, skills performance and usability and satisfaction. Data analysis involved descriptive and parametric statistics (Student's t-test) and covariance methods to compare outcomes and assess the impact between groups, using SAS v. 9.4. The intervention group (IVR&#xa0;=&#xa0;47 students) demonstrated statistically significant improvement in RT compared to the control group (46 students), particularly in the "Emotion" and "Conclusion" questions of Gibbs' cycle. Skills gain was also significantly higher in the IVR group (p&#xa0;<&#xa0;0.001). While knowledge gains were comparable (p&#xa0;=&#xa0;0.202) -indicating no additional advantage of IVR over traditional methods in this specific domain-, the IVR group reported higher satisfaction and usability levels. IVR-based applications effectively enhance nursing students' RT and skills in PI care. This technology offers a valuable educational tool for improving student competence, especially for those with lower initial skill levels, and can be considered an innovative alternative to traditional teaching methods.

Study type: Journal Article Randomized Controlled Trial

Evidence appraisal

Main Findings

• The source frames wound care as the central nursing learning or practice issue.
• The record identifies the design as journal article randomized controlled trial, which should guide appraisal questions.
• The available abstract indicates: Despite extensive efforts, pressure injuries (PIs) remain a critical concern in healthcare quality. Consequently, robust training in PI prevention, assessment and management-tailored to....
• Country provenance is weak, so students should avoid assuming local transferability.
• Any application to practice should be checked against the original article, local guidelines, and the limits reported by the authors.

Practice transfer

Clinical Relevance

• Clinically, the article can support careful discussion of how research evidence should be adapted to local patients, resources, and policies.
• Use the article to ask how wound care evidence would fit local resources, patient needs, and nursing scope of practice.
• Ask students to separate source-reported findings from classroom interpretation before recommending practice changes.
• Have students verify access and reuse terms before sharing full text or excerpts.
• Match appraisal questions to the journal article randomized controlled trial design.

Critical appraisal

Limitations

• The generated summary is still limited by the abstract and metadata available to the database.
• Country provenance is weak, limiting assumptions about local applicability.
• Rights and access metadata are incomplete.

Classroom use

Discussion Questions

• What research question does "Fostering reflective thinking and nursing students' competence in pressure injury care through immersive virtual reality: A randomized controlled trial." appear to address, and what source metadata supports that interpretation?
• How does the journal article randomized controlled trial shape the appraisal questions students should ask?
• Which details from the original article would you need before applying this evidence to wound care practice?
• What claims can be supported from the abstract alone, and what claims require full-text verification?
• How does weak country provenance affect transferability?
• What patient safety, equity, or workflow issues should be considered before practice application?
• How would you explain the article's relevance to a patient, family member, or interprofessional colleague in plain language?
• Which limitations should appear in an assignment summary to avoid overstating the evidence?
• How does this article connect with course concepts, clinical placement experiences, or evidence-based practice frameworks?
• What follow-up source would you search for next to confirm or challenge this article?

Study cards

Flashcards

Search-ready answers

Frequently asked questions