Development and Evaluation of Virtual Reality-based Simulation Content for Nursing Students Regarding Emergency Triage

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop a virtual reality (VR)-based simulation program for nursing students regarding emergency triage and evaluate its usability. Methods: The content was developed according to the system development lifecycle: analysis, design, implementation, and evaluation. Experts and fourth-year nursing students verified the validity and usability of the content. The study was conducted from November 2021 to June 2022. Results: The VR content was constructed using Keller’s ARCS (attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction) model of motivational design as a basic strategy. Nurses were dispatched to an emergency site where a major accident had occurred, and 20 casualties were classified according to the triage and acuity scale. The research participants assigned scores for the following sub-factors after applying the VR content developed in this study: Relevance scored highest (4.23 out of 5), followed by confidence (3.81 out of 5), attention (3.76 out of 5), and content satisfaction (2.52 out of 5). Conclusion: The VR-based simulation content for emergency patient classification developed in this study may be useful for nursing students. However, inconveniences caused by the use of VR devices or problems with adaptation to the virtual environment may occur. Therefore, establishing countermeasures and systematically developing content for various disaster environments will help improve the core competencies of nursing students in disaster nursing.