Nursing Informatics: Analyzing Simulation, Virtual Worlds, and Gaming

This report delves into the application of simulation, virtual worlds, and gaming within nursing informatics. It highlights the benefits of simulation, such as enhancing skill acquisition and improving patient outcomes through techniques like computerized manikins and role-playing, while also acknowledging the associated high costs and potential for a disconnect from real-life scenarios. The report then explores virtual worlds, exemplified by platforms like 'Second Life,' as tools for immersive learning and interaction among educators, students, and patients, and discusses their limitations, including cost and the challenge of translating virtual experiences into practical skills. Finally, the report examines the use of gaming in nursing education, emphasizing its potential to boost knowledge retention, promote problem-based learning, and enhance critical thinking, while also considering the challenges of decreased attention spans and the costs associated with implementation. The report concludes by providing relevant references to support its findings.

Running head: NURSING INFORMATICS
NURSING INFORMATICS
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Impact of stimulation
Stimulation has been largely used in the field of medicine and health care. Stimulation in
the nursing environment helps nurses in the acquisition of the knowledge and the skills. There is
normally a framework for stimulation which involves some pre-work, preparatory learning
before the stimulation, followed by the implementation of the stimulation (Aebersold &
Tschannen, 2013). Studies have found that application of a structure sensory stimulation had
better outcomes in patients suffering from severe Traumatic brain injury. Various types of
sensory stimulations such as tactile, auditory, visual, equilibrium and gustatory stimulation can
be effective against these types of patients (Moattari et al., 2016). Musico-kinetic therapy can be
useful in case of patients with brain damage caused by trauma. Some of the clinical examples of
stimulations involve utilization of the computerized manikins, utilization of the computer
programs or the video games which can be defined as the mid-fidelity stimulations. The low
fidelity stimulators involve the role play and the non computerized manikins. The low fidelity
stimulations involve the use of the practice skills like the IV arm for practicing the IV insertion
skills (Aebersold & Tschannen, 2013).
Regular in-situ stimulation training of the medical, emergency and the pediatric team of
nurses helps to improve the hospital response of the deteriorating patients. Stimulation helps in
the management of the hospital community. It helps in avoiding errors in health care. It helps to
decrease the rate of mortality and morbidity in clinical settings.
Some of the disadvantages involving stimulation in nursing training is that It is not real,
even it is done in a realistic setup, as many students tend to tense up in real life situations.

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Secondly stimulation is generally a high cost effort. Thirdly the nurse educators are always not
updated with the latest stimulation technologies.
Virtual world in nursing education
Virtual worlds involve 3D or a 2D computer system based on the environment that helps
to stimulate the aspects of the reality. a popular example of virtual world is the ' second life'
which is an internet based virtual scenario designed by its avatars. For example the surgeons
have used a 3D printed heart and virtual reality for practicing pediatric heart surgery before
diving into the live procedures (Green et al., 2014).
Virtual world helps the nursing students by offering advantages like social networking,
opportunities through the usage of immersive and collaborative learning. Virtual world in
nursing education helps to stimulate the interactions between the educators, students and the
patients, members of the multidisciplinary team (Green et al., 2014).
Some of the disadvantages of virtual world education are that it is entirely different from
the real life situations and students might not be able to correlate with the reality. Second
disadvantage is the high cost for the construction of these internet based virtual world.
Impact of games in nursing education
Nursing education involving games is a teaching method involving a game like situation
around the curriculum. Many professors have found gaming to be motivators of learning for
improving the results of the course assessment (Royse & Newton, 2007).
Gaming in nursing increases the retention time of the knowledge, promote learning based
on problems, enhances the critical thinking skills, makes learning more exciting and helps in the

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replication of the real life scenarios, increases enthusiasm, provides instant feedbacks and helps
developing social connections (Royse & Newton, 2007).
One of the disadvantages of gaming in nursing is the decreased attention span of the
student. The cost of gamified learning varies with the type of the system involved. There can be
equipment costs, training costs and the soft ware costs. Setting up of a game suitable for the
course requires a lot of logistics and prior planning (Royse & Newton, 2007).
.

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References
Green, J., Wyllie, A., & Jackson, D. (2014). Virtual worlds: A new frontier for nurse education?.
Collegian, 21(2), 135-141.
Michelle Aebersold PhD, R. N., & Dana Tschannen PhD, R. N. (2013). Simulation in nursing
practice: The impact on patient care. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 18(2), 83.
Moattari, M., Alizadeh Shirazi, F., Sharifi, N., & Zareh, N. (2016). Effects of a Sensory
Stimulation by Nurses and Families on Level of Cognitive Function, and Basic Cognitive
Sensory Recovery of Comatose Patients With Severe Traumatic Brain Injury: A
Randomized Control Trial. Trauma Monthly, 21(4), e23531.
http://doi.org/10.5812/traumamon.23531
Royse, M. A., & Newton, S. E. (2007). How gaming is used as an innovative strategy for nursing
education. Nursing Education Perspectives, 28(5), 263-267.