Award Date

5-15-2025

Degree Type

Doctoral Project

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing (ND)

Department

Nursing

First Committee Member

Kathleen Thimsen

Second Committee Member

Dieu-My Tran

Third Committee Member

Lisa Lindquist-Nicholas

Fourth Committee Member

Jay Shen

Number of Pages

99

Abstract

Background: Through their limited exposure, non-critical care nurses may feel unprepared to respond when faced with a sudden emergency such as cardiac arrest. This Quality Improvement (QI) project employed virtual reality (VR) technology to improve nurse confidence, adherence to the American Heart Association (AHA) basic life support (BLS) algorithm, and documentation accuracy among medical-surgical nurses in a Veterans Affairs hospital in Nevada. The project addressed their ability to react promptly and effectively during these high-stakes emergencies. Methods: Following a scoping literature review from the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Medline, and PubMed databases, this Evidence Based Practice (EBP) project implemented virtual reality simulations via the VR platform tailored to the needs of medical-surgical nurses. The VR training protocol was designed to improve recognition of patient deterioration and the initiation of Basic Life Support (BLS) using the American Heart Association (AHA) BLS algorithm. Statistical analyses evaluated improvements in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) performance metrics, specifically focusing on nurses' confidence, adherence to the American Heart Association's (AHA) Basic Life Support (BLS) algorithm and code documentation. Pre- and post-intervention surveys assessed changes in staff confidence regarding their ability to recognize cardiac arrest, activate code blue responses, and correctly follow the AHA BLS algorithm and document cardiac arrest events. Results: Post-intervention analysis demonstrated substantial improvements: Nurse confidence scores increased by 29.6%, adherence to the AHA BLS algorithm rose by 24.2%, and documentation accuracy improved by 48%. Participant feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with 97.4% indicating interest in future VR sessions during post-training qualitative survey feedback, praising its realism and effectiveness. Conclusion: This project demonstrates the transformative potential of VR in professional development and emergency preparedness. By improving nurse confidence, BLS adherence, and documentation accuracy, VR training advances clinical excellence and fosters innovation in nursing education. The findings support the broader adoption of VR technology as an efficient, scalable, and impactful training solution.

Keywords

Cardiac Arrest; CPR Training; Medical-Surgical Nursing; Simulation; Veterans Affairs Hospital; Virtual Reality

Disciplines

Education | Nursing | Science and Mathematics Education

File Format

pdf

File Size

1427 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Download


Share

COinS