How does one combine nursing and the arts? Two Winston-Salem higher education institutions have it figured out.
Winston-Salem State University and the University of North Carolina School of the Arts are partnering to incorporate virtual reality into WSSU’s clinical training curriculum for nursing students.
With this partnership, WSSU will be the first Historically Black College or University in North Carolina to use VR in nursing education. This also represents one of the largest investments in VR at UNCSA.
Almost $800,000 in funding was provided by the North Carolina Collaboratory through an appropriation from the state’s General Assembly, including through its Historically Minority Serving Institution Grant program.
“I am so very proud of our health sciences faculty and staff for leading the way in virtual reality. They have once again placed WSSU at the forefront of medical technology,” said Elwood Robinson, the WSSU chancellor who is retiring on June 30. “As one of our state’s highest producers of nurses, it was imperative for us to rethink training, given the current challenges. VR will help us fill these gaps while positioning our students for long-term success.”
By using VR, students will get early access to clinical training with simulated real-world experiences. The experiences are designed to help nursing students develop clinical judgement and increase knowledge retention.
Using the newest registered nurse certifying standards, WSSU’s VR curriculum will be a customizable educational platform produced by UNCSA’s School of Filmmaking and industry partners Looking Glass XR and Out of Our Minds Studio. The initial VR modeling was built using Unreal Engine, a platform developed by Epic Games, the Cary company that has developed such games as Fortnite, Gears of War and Unreal.
“This partnership demonstrates the impact that the arts and storytelling can have on initiatives that help us think about and improve our world in a myriad of ways,” said Brian Cole, chancellor at UNCSA.
At UNCSA, Ryan Schmaltz, director of special VR projects, and Stacy Payne, director of strategic initiatives for the Media + Emerging Technology Lab, were involved with launching this project. At WSSU, the School of Health Sciences faculty and administration including Dr. Leslee Battle, Dr. Cecil Holland, Dr. Susan Hall, Dr. Gina DeCelle and Dr. Tori Brown collaborated on the initiative.
The VR lab will be housed in the Center for Design Innovation, a multi-campus research center of the UNC System located in Winston-Salem.
