Second Life in Nursing

Welcome to the virtual world where we are part of a 3D virtual reality world. When many think of a 3D virtual world they think of futuristic movies like Tron or maybe even video games like The Sims. Believe it or not that virtual world is beginning to become reality in the world of nursing. Virtual 3D simulations are now being used to teach nursing skills and allow nurses to see in 3D simulations how to complete procedures and simulate real life health emergency care.

Second Life is a virtual simulated game developed by Linden Lab where users can create alternate personas called avatars and is an advanced level of social networking, where virtual residents explore, meet other residents, socialize and participate in individual or group activities. It was created as a social media application but is now moving into nursing education.

The health care world has started to take hold of this alternate universe by incorporating it into the education of health care workers. For example, Duke University has incorporated Second Life as part of its nursing curriculum. It seems like an odd thing to use for higher education but it is said to work while making the classroom much more engaging. According to Noteborn, Hebert, Carbonell & Gijseaers (2013) it allows students to freely interact in the classroom with the teacher and other students while class is going on, students from around the world can meet in a single classroom without having to travel away from their home, it provides simulation in a safe environment, and allows nursing students to practice skills, try new ideas and learn from their mistakes without having to use a real patient.

There is some disagreement about the use of a virtual classroom. Basically, some feel a real situation supplies a much better learning environment than a virtual simulation. However, in nursing there may be skills that students will not encounter during a hands on session and so a virtual simulation seems like it would be better than not being able to practice at all.

In 2014 Jone & Hoglund completed a study where she sought information about the use of Second Life for nurse educators and how that was transferable into the real world of nursing practice. She actually asked students to complete surveys related to using Second Life as a tool for learning. At the end of this study most of the students surveyed reported a meaningful learning experience with Second Life. While there were some barriers to the use of the technology the conclusions of the study showed that this type of virtual learning as a valid tool.

This technology is fairly new as far as being used for nursing education, however it does show some promise. Most nursing educators agree this cannot be used alone in teaching nurses the skills they need to know but it can be an effective tool to practice skills. It cannot take the place of clinical rotations but it can allow students to visualize clinical situations in a 3D simulated world. Second Life holds promise in the world of education and it will be interesting to see where this technology takes us in the world of nursing education.

References

Jone, T. & Hoglund, B. (2014). Teaching/learning in second life: Perspectives of future nurse     educators. Clinical Simulation in Nursing. Retrieved from nursingsimulation.org

Noteborn, G., Hebert, A., Carbonell, K., & Gijselaers, W. (2013). Essential knowledge for academic performance: Educating in the virtual world to promote active learning. ScienceDirect. Retrieved from sciencedirect.com