VR for Clinical Skills: Fontys University

Overview

‍Fontys University is a leading Dutch institution offering strong programs in healthcare, social work, and technology. With a focus on clinical education, Fontys continuously adopts advanced teaching methods to provide top-notch education to its students.

Business Problem: Fontys School of People and Health sought to enhance the quality and consistency of its clinical education programs. They wanted to address key challenges that students face during their training, especially in clinical reasoning, evidence-based practice, professional collaboration, and project management. In an effort to address each of these problems in one innovative solution, the research group for "person-centredness" in an Ageing Society at Fontys decided to explore VR as a potential solution.

Key areas for improvement:

• Clinical Reasoning: Students struggled to develop complex clinical reasoning skills that are essential for diagnosing and treating patients.
• Evidence-Based Practice: There was a need to improve students’ ability to integrate research and evidence into clinical decision-making.
• Collaboration with Professionals: Training lacked realistic scenarios for students to collaborate with other healthcare professionals in a multidisciplinary setting.
• Project Management: Students were not adequately prepared for managing complex healthcare projects, which are an essential part of modern medical practice.

These four key areas cover a good amount of the work done by nurses. It’s critical that students are able to address the needs of patients quickly and effectively, especially in situations where not all information is readily available. Professionals must deduce the most appropriate intervention methods based on what evidence and resources are available, whether those come from surroundings, “book” knowledge, experience, or other available professionals.

Solution: Fontys University collaborated with Warp VR to integrate Virtual Reality (VR) into their curriculum, offering immersive learning experiences that focus on the aforementioned areas.

• Clinical Reasoning:
  
  • Created VR scenarios where students face realistic patient cases, requiring them to apply clinical reasoning skills in real-time.
  • Allowed students to practice decision-making and diagnosis in a safe, risk-free environment.
• Evidence-Based Practice:
  
  • Developed VR simulations where students are presented with medical cases that require them to search for and apply evidence from clinical guidelines.
  • VR environments enabled students to explore complex clinical cases and better understand the integration of research into practice.
• Collaboration with Professionals:
  
  • Used VR to simulate interdisciplinary team collaboration, allowing students to interact with virtual professionals (doctors, nurses, etc.) and solve medical problems together.
  • Provided exposure to real-life multidisciplinary interactions and improved communication skills.
• Project Management:
  
  • Integrated VR projects that simulate healthcare management tasks, requiring students to plan, execute, and evaluate medical projects.
  • Enabled students to experience the full scope of project management in healthcare settings, from planning to delivery.

Results: The integration of VR into Fontys’ healthcare programs had significant impacts on both students and instructors.

Fontys successfully experimented with VR across several healthcare clinical placements, resulting in measurable improvements in several areas. Students reported feeling more confident in their clinical reasoning abilities, with many noting that VR simulations helped them better understand and apply evidence-based practice. Additionally, the immersive scenarios created stronger engagement in collaboration with other healthcare professionals.

• Enhanced Clinical Skills: Students showed notable improvement in applying clinical reasoning and making evidence-based decisions.
• Improved Collaboration: The VR simulations helped students develop better communication skills and teamwork, preparing them for real-world multidisciplinary environments.
• Project Management: Students gained practical project management experience, which they were able to apply to real-life healthcare settings.

This approach has not only improved the quality of education but also helped Fontys stay at the cutting edge of healthcare training by using immersive technology to simulate complex, real-world scenarios. Fontys continues to refine its curriculum, and plans to expand the use of VR to other areas of the curriculum.

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