Virtual Clinical Experiences in Nursing Education Today
This paper examines the growing integration of virtual clinical experiences into nursing education curricula in the United States. Driven by a nationwide nursing shortage and limited real-world clinical placement sites, nursing schools are increasingly turning to simulation labs, videoconferencing, social media platforms, and commercial virtual tools to supplement or partially replace traditional clinicals. The paper reviews peer-reviewed and scholarly literature to assess the benefits of virtual simulations, highlight successful program implementations such as New York University's initiative, and discuss the activities and technologies involved. It concludes that while virtual clinical experiences cannot fully replace hands-on training, they represent a timely, effective, and expanding component of modern nursing education.
- Introduction: Nursing shortage drives virtual clinical experience adoption
- Current Virtual Clinical Experience Literature in Nursing: Benefits and limitations of traditional and virtual clinicals
- Is Virtual Clinical Experience Being Used in Nursing?: Real program implementations and measured outcomes
- What Activities Does Virtual Clinical Experience Include?: Teleconferencing, YouTube, social media, and gaming tools
- Creating Virtual Clinical Experiences in Nursing: Technologies, vendors, and evaluation of virtual programs
- Conclusion: Virtual clinicals as essential future of nursing education
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What makes this paper effective
- The paper efficiently synthesizes multiple peer-reviewed sources to build a coherent argument for virtual clinical integration, moving logically from problem identification to evidence of efficacy.
- A bulleted breakdown of simulation advantages provides concrete, accessible evidence that strengthens the central claim without becoming repetitive.
- Real-world examples, such as the NYU initiative and Grady's (2011) telehealth study, ground abstract arguments in measurable outcomes, lending the paper practical credibility.
Key academic technique demonstrated
The paper demonstrates effective use of synthesized literature review, drawing together practitioner guidance (Lippincott Nursing Education), empirical studies (Grady, 2011), and policy context (the Affordable Care Act) to construct a multi-layered argument. Rather than summarizing each source in isolation, the writer weaves them together to show converging evidence across different types of authorities.
Structure breakdown
The paper opens by establishing the problem (nursing shortage and limited clinical sites), moves through a literature review covering benefits and limitations of both traditional and virtual clinicals, addresses real implementation examples, surveys specific program activities and technologies, discusses creation and evaluation considerations, and closes with a forward-looking conclusion. This problem-evidence-solution arc is well maintained throughout.
Introduction
Even as the United States struggles to cope with a critical nationwide shortage of nurses, existing nursing education programs are unable to meet the demand for unlicensed nursing students to gain real-world clinical experiences. In response, a growing number of vendors and nursing education programs are integrating virtual clinical experiences into the nursing curriculum. These virtual clinical experiences are especially effective because many young nursing students have grown up with computer-based technologies and readily understand how the process operates. The purpose of this paper is to provide the results of a review of online, peer-reviewed, and scholarly resources concerning these issues, followed by a summary of the research and important findings on the integration of virtual clinical experiences into the nursing education curriculum today.
There is a growing emphasis on integrating virtual clinical experiences into the nursing education curriculum in response to a shortage of opportunities for real-world clinical experiences, as well as the mandates of the Affordable Care Act, which underscored the need for increased use of electronic health information systems to support transparency and patient-data transferability to healthcare providers across the country (Allen, 2013). As a result, nursing students today must possess a new skill set that includes a comprehensive understanding of how to access and analyze data appropriately, as well as how to use this information for quality improvement initiatives intended to improve patient care and clinical outcomes (Allen, 2014). In sum, nursing students are already learning the skills needed to benefit from virtual clinical experiences.
References
Allen, P. (2013, May). Preparing nurses for tomorrow's healthcare system. American Nurse Today, 8(5), 46–49.
Barry, J. & Hardiker, N. R. (2012, September). Advancing nursing practice through social media: A global perspective. Online Journal of Issues in Nursing, 17(3), 9–12.
Godsall, L. & Foronda, C. (2012, May 1). Instructional design as a change agent in a school of nursing. Distance Learning, 9(3), 1–4.
Grady, J. L. (2011, May/June). The virtual clinical practicum: An innovative telehealth model for clinical nursing education. Nursing Education Perspectives, 32(3), 189–192.
Limited clinical sites for nursing students. (2017). Lippincott Nursing Educator. Retrieved from http://nursingeducation.lww.com/blog.entry.html/2017/03/26/limited_clinicalsit-lA99.html.
Nardi, D. A. & Gyurko, C. C. (2015, September). The global nursing faculty shortage: Status and solutions for change. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 45(3), 317–321.
Sanko, J. S. (2017, January 1). Simulation as a teaching technology: A brief history of its use in nursing education. Distance Learning, 14(1), 21–24.
The importance of clinical experience. (2018). Retrieved from https://onlinenursing.duq.edu/blog/importance-clinical-experience-nursing-internship/.
Weideman, Y. L. & Culleiton, A. L. (2014, November/December). A virtual pregnancy for pre-licensure nursing students: Nine months up and close. Nursing Education Perspectives, 35(6), 410–414.
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