CORSICANA, TX – Navarro College has been awarded the Nursing and Allied Health-Nursing Innovation Grant as a participant in the Nursing Innovation Grant Program (NIGP) through the Texas Higher Education Board.  The award, totaling just over $57,000, will be used to purchase Laerdal’s Medical-Surgical vrClinicals and augmented reality headsets.

 

With the use of virtual reality clinicals, students can be placed in situations involving the care of multiple patients, while also dealing with multiple distractions at the same time. Virtual reality clinicals will engage students with a realistic, busy hospital environment causing them to employ clinical judgment in complex cases. This innovative technology is paired with traditional classroom study to provide a richer learning environment.

 

As stated by Guy E. Featherston, Executive Dean of Health Professions, “Navarro College nursing continues to be at the forefront of nursing education in the State of Texas.   The addition of these virtual reality headsets will enhance our ability to provide our nursing students with real world experiences in a simulated environment.  These experiences will make our students more confident and increase their clinical competencies when they begin their patient rotations at out our partner health care facilities.”

 

The goal of this project is that upon the completion of the ADN program, students will demonstrate improved clinical judgment, and report greater confidence and perceived readiness when entering the nursing workforce.

 

Julie Arteaga, Ed.D., MSN, RN, CNE, Navarro College BSN Program Director said, “I am eager to witness the positive results that virtual reality will provide and the effect it will have on our student outcomes, as well as overall student success!”

 

For more information about health professions at Navarro College, please visit https://www.navarrocollege.edu/health-professions or call (972) 923-5121.