By Elizabeth Douglas, Marketing and Communications

Nursing instructor Lisa Kirk is preparing future and current nurses across Canada to tackle the complexities of their field through virtual simulations.

A Douglas College Nursing instructor is virtually equipping a new generation of nurses with the knowledge and experience to be agile and prepared for any situation that comes their way. 

Lisa Kirk, along with Veterinary Technology instructor Rhonda Benke and 147 Bachelor of Health Sciences in Nursing students from Douglas, have trialed simulations for the Virtu-WIL project, an open resource library of virtual simulations available across Canada. Aimed at students and working nurses, the simulations include videos, images and quizzes that guide the user through practical scenarios in clinical training and the workplace. 

To date, Lisa has reviewed more than 120 simulations. Now, she’s writing a process for best practice standards to help nursing faculty at Douglas and at colleges and universities across Canada integrate this work into their curriculum.  

“It’s about creating good pedagogy, sharing these resources and making them widely accessible to create a stronger overall health education landscape in North America,” she says.

Putting theory into practice

From dealing with complicated childbirth, to communicating in high-stress situations, Virtu-WIL contains over 120 simulations that cover everything from patient care to self-conduct as a working nurse.

The benefit for nursing students is that the sims allow them to do the virtual work ahead of time, and then come to class prepared to apply the knowledge they learned from the simulation into their learning, says Lisa.

“This means that students gain experiential learning and knowledge before even stepping into a lab or clinical setting.” 

She also points out that virtual sims can offer a more captivating, hands-on learning approach for Gen Z students. 

“Nursing is heavy in theory, but turning that theory into a virtual simulation helps engage our learners, because this generation of students doesn’t just want to be talked at.”

In some cases, the simulations cover topics that a traditional curriculum may not include in depth – like how to communicate with a patient that uses hearing aids.  

“We’ve had students come back after their clinical training who were able to apply what they learned in the hearing aid simulation into their clinical work. One student was even able to share their knowledge with a practising nurse on how to communicate with the patient using what they learned from the simulation.” 

But nursing students aren’t the only ones benefitting. Lisa says the sims can also help working nurses refresh their knowledge in areas they may not have the chance to practise in frequently. 

“I used to do nasal swabs all the time when I worked in the ER,” says Lisa, who is also a registered nurse, “but that was mainly with children. We started performing them on adults when COVID started, but many of us had never done one on an adult before. It would have been invaluable to review a short simulation video to walk me through the process, paperwork and protective equipment to prepare me for that work efficiently.”

Potential for growth

Lisa has seen how virtual sims can accommodate different learning styles, but she believes there is room for improvement to make them even more accessible. 

“Many of the platforms I’ve worked on with Virtu-WIL don’t have subtitle options. Once closed captions are added, it will be great for accessibility of all kinds. Viewers can pause the simulation, read the caption, review supporting documents and take notes without missing out on the experience.” 

The Virtu-WIL project was made possible through federal funding and in collaboration with Colleges and Institutes Canada and Simulation Canada.  

Learn more about the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at Douglas College.