Keywords

Virtual Simulation, Skill-building, Undergraduate nursing students

Abstract

Introduction: The nursing shortage continues to be a major topic of concern for the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN). Creative ways to educate more nurses are essential to bridge the nursing shortage gap.

Background: Virtual Simulation (VS) has shown positive outcomes when used in unfolding simulations. Using VS technology, initial research supports using VS for hands-on skill building. Hands-on skills are primarily nursing skills that are performed at the bedside.

Methods: This dissertation is a mixed-methods, exploratory design. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) (Davis, 1989) was used to determine the usability and ease of use of a specific VS program. Two versions of the same skill were created, and the sample was randomly placed into either version A or version B. Version A used all 29 specific steps that were on the skill competency checklist as options and Version B condensed some of the steps into logical groupings for a total of 11 options. A comparison was made using the TAM (Davis, 1989) questionnaire for Version A and Version B. Three open-ended questions were asked to gather more feedback from the students.

Results: Results indicate no differences in usability and ease of use using either version of the software. The final part of the dissertation used the information from the literature review and study to create a “how to use” virtual simulation for skill-building while keeping alignment with current standards. This information will add to the limited knowledge of using virtual simulation for hands-on skill building in undergraduate nursing education. Further studies with a larger sample size will add to the body of science which can potentially increase opportunities for access to online nursing education.

Completion Date

2023

Semester

Fall

Committee Chair

Diaz, Desiree

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)

College

College of Nursing

Format

application/pdf

Identifier

DP0028463

Language

English

Release Date

June 2025

Length of Campus-only Access

1 year

Access Status

Doctoral Dissertation (Campus-only Access)

Campus Location

UCF Online

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Restricted to the UCF community until June 2025; it will then be open access.

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