497 - Health professional perspectives on mobile virtual reality simulations for skills maintenance in essential newborn care – a report from the vENC study

Poster Number: 497
Publication Number: 497.408

Background: Virtual simulations provide opportunities for interactive learning, problem-solving, and standardized feedback. Little is known about the perspectives of healthcare professionals to using mobile virtual reality (VR) simulations for skills maintenance in essential newborn care (ENC).

Objective: To describe the perspectives of healthcare professionals in a low middle income country (LMIC) on using virtual ENC (vENC) simulations, contexts of use, and perceptions of the value of vENC for skills maintenance.

Design/Methods: Focus group discussions (FGD) with 5-8 participants per group were held with nurses and midwives from 23 health facilities in Nigeria who were enrolled in the Virtual ENC (vENC) study on using mobile VR simulations for ENC skills maintenance 6 months after in-person ENC training. The focus group facilitators used a semi-structured interview guide designed to elicit participants’ experiences with and opinions about using the vENC simulations. FGD were audio-recorded and transcribed for qualitative analysis. Two investigators (RU, JJ) independently reviewed the transcripts to identify initial themes then worked together to build consensus on all major themes. Codes within and across transcripts were compared and synthesized into overarching themes describing the benefits and challenges of mobile VR simulations for skills maintenance.

Results: From May-Jun 2023, 45 nurses and midwives participated in 8 FGD. Overall study participants had 5-20 years of experience (69%), practicing at primary (44%), secondary (27%) and tertiary (29%) levels of care. The participants said that using vENC was highly acceptable to them. They described vENC as convenient for practicing skills, obtaining feedback, and helping to increase their confidence which translated to their clinical practice. Participants reported using the scenarios at work, at home and on public transit. Most participants used the vENC scenarios offline and without the headset. They described vENC as realistic and convenient for practicing skills, provided appropriate feedback and helped solidify teaching points. They were proud of their ability to apply their skills in the clinical setting to resuscitate newborns and reported that they had taught others using vENC. Participants’ suggestions for improvement centered on using vENC without a headset and the desire to access vENC on their personal device. Figure 1. Qualitative analysis is ongoing.

Conclusion(s): vENC simulations were perceived to be valuable for supporting skills maintenance in nurses and midwives who provide essential newborn care in an LMIC setting.