Cover Story
Real Knowledge, Simulated World By Andrea Anderson
Virtual reality
is making its way into practical nurse education, making it possible to practice skills and attain more standardized student evaluations. At a glance, Chantelle McLean might be mistaken for a young practical nurse coming off the ward — if not, that is, for the sleek black rectangle affixed in front of her eyes by a halo of straps. In plum scrubs, McLean moves purposefully around a small square of carpet with no clear boundaries, using her hands to manipulate a set of controllers as she focuses intently on the task she’s completing. Animated versions of her hands are displayed on a large television mounted on a wall to her right, where observers share her perspective as she moves through a hospital room. She washes her hands, greets a female patient tucked in under a pale blue blanket, and carefully tends to the woman’s intravenous (IV) line. iStock.com/Dean Mitchell
The world is virtual, but the scenario is real.
Interviews and photography for this story were completed pre-pandemic, in January 2020.
8
care | VOLUME 34 ISSUE 3
Photography by Leroy Schulz
