Applications of Virtual Simulation and Virtual Reality in Nursing

Dear Colleagues,

Healthcare education is challenging. For nurse educators, aptly preparing nursing students to function in fast-paced, high-acuity settings with diverse patients and providers is an arduous task. Fortunately, experiential learning modalities including virtual simulation and virtual reality are showing promise to provide learners with better opportunities to practice a variety of high-level thinking skills prior to entering the profession. Research has demonstrated that virtually simulated experiences result in higher cognitive learning outcomes and longer retention of learning when compared to traditional teaching methods such as reading or lecture. Further, application of virtual simulation and virtual reality is beginning to emerge in the context of patient care. For example, virtual reality is being used to decrease patients’ experiences of anxiety and pain. As the use of virtual simulation and virtual reality are growing in nursing practice, this Special Issue seeks contributions about the use of virtual simulation, virtual reality, augmented reality, or mixed reality (XR) in the context of nursing or nursing education. Topics include but are not limited to:

• applications of virtual simulation or XR to improve nursing student learning outcomes;
• research (including feasibility studies) with virtual simulation, virtual reality, augmented reality, or mixed reality in the context of nursing;
• quality improvement projects (or data-based projects) in practice settings about virtual simulation, virtual reality, augmented reality, or mixed reality in the context of nursing;
• toolkits or strategies to assist in the design or development of virtual simulations or XR;
• cost–benefit analyses of virtual simulation or XR in comparison to traditional means.

Dr. Cynthia L. Foronda
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Informatics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.