Nursing students to undergo virtual reality violence training before their placements
A nursing professor involved in the Australian-first program says training programs need to respond to rising violence in healthcare.
Nursing students at the University of Technology Sydney are set to complete a virtual reality simulation of patient aggression and violence before their first clinical placements, in what the university says is an Australian first.
From next year, about 600 first-year students will strap on VR headsets to practise recognising aggressive behaviour, making decisions under pressure and employing de-escalation techniques.
The decision to build patient-aggression simulations into the curriculum follows rising violence against nurses.
The NSW Nurses and Midwives’ Association reported this year that some 88% of nurses and midwives say they have experienced or witnessed workplace violence in the previous six months, up from 80% in 2019.
