Building confidence using online healthcare simulations: a critical analysis through User Experience (UX) design

Healthcare learning simulations have grown and matured over the past 40 years on substantive and methodological grounds and looks to be increasing in the future. This small pilot study suggests a well-organised project can assess the usability of a simulation with a limited sample size, conducted over five weeks and with zero budget. This investigation asks, ‘What is the impact on the confidence level of healthcare workers (Nursing students) using learning simulations? Can computing science user experience testing techniques be used to generate evidence to validate the conclusions? A computing science user experience (UX) 5-part Sprint methodology was used to collect evidence from 30 undergraduate Nursing students who used an online 2D medical learning simulation. This cross-discipline project synthesised a variety of technologies and tools to collect data to inform the design of possible improvements to the UX design of the simulation. UX tests were performed to provide evidence on the Nursing students’ experience. Although there was not enough time to validate improvement on the Nurses’ knowledge and skills related to the simulation scenarios, the conclusion is that using the UX modified online medical learning simulation did have a positive impact on the Nurses’ confidence level. Further research is recommended to explore the use of Augmented Reality and 3D Virtual Reality rooms to promote the development of next generation simulation solutions.

Copyright: © 2023 Anthony Basiel, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.