Running head: EMERGING TECHNOLOGY 1
Emerging Technology in Nursing Education
Name
Western Governors University
College of Health Professions
,EMERGING TECHNOLOGY 2
Executive Summary
To maintain current in technology trends of healthcare, nursing programs must evaluate
and consider changes in the curriculum to integrate new technologies. A recent technology
introduced to the nursing education curriculum is the use of a virtual patient simulator, I-
Human. This software developed by Kaplan is utilized in higher education to provide students
an interactive interface to assess, diagnosis, and treat patients virtually. It provides a practice
environment for clinical skills, and critical thinking, and a debriefing post-conference.
Currently, the institutions nursing program only provides clinical skills training on-site
at the hospital or nursing home environment. Students arrive to site with their clinical group
and instructors. They are assigned a patient to care for throughout their shift and provide
nursing care in respect to their clinical goals for the day. If the patient is too sick to interact,
away for testing, or disinterested in having a student, the undergraduate may have a poor
clinical experience. This leads to an inability to develop skills necessary to provide safe,
confident patient care. The current nursing program does not have a substitute for this clinical
interaction that can provide practice of skills and critical thinking.
The nurse educator is a leader of change in the institution to introduce and develop
change for educational technology in the 21st century. Challenges found in nursing education
are the institutional program’s inability to adopt and expand their technologies to keep up with
the expanding scope of practice. Quality of education directly affects safety of patient care.
Nursing curriculum must be revised to reflect technology advancements to ensure graduates are
prepared for success.
Video conferencing and virtual simulation are two modern technologies that can
improve nursing education when integrated into the institution’s curriculum. Both technologies
increase
,EMERGING TECHNOLOGY 3
interaction between learners, instructors, and materials to aid learning. Using Lewin’s model of
change, a virtual patient simulator, I-Human will be introduced into the curriculum for “The
Role of the BSN in Promoting Community Health”. A thorough literature review on the two
technologies will develop a need gap analysis. This need will be presented to stakeholders and
evaluated for challenges. A force field analysis will identify the external and internal factors
with implementation and propose solutions. A plan for implementation will be developed and
an analysis of organizational readiness.
The purpose of this proposed technology change is to improve the institution’s nursing
program by maintaining modern curriculum and ensuring students have the skills to succeed.
This change will improve student learning, critical thinking, and their ability to perform clinical
skills. It will prepare them for real-life nursing and provide the confidence needed for
successful careers.
, EMERGING TECHNOLOGY 4
Literature Review
Literature Review Summary Table, refer to Table 1
The role of technology in healthcare is expanding and becoming an integral part of
practice today. In the use of nursing education, technology allows educators to identify student
strengths and weaknesses which enables them to individualize teaching strategies for their
diverse classroom. New technology provides students with an interactive instructional design
and critical thinking skills for their new profession as registered nurses. Students’ ability to be
actively engaged with technology is vital to success in their career. The course, “The Role of the
BSN in Promoting Community Health” is in the process of integrating current technology in its
curriculum. The program will introduce Zoom for Education software and I-Human virtual
simulation into the course. The Journal of Education and Practice notes that developing
comprehensive insight into current nursing educational practices and approaches is necessary to
solidity the foundation for future development of the science for nursing education
(Zitzelberger, Coffey, Graham, Papaconstantinou, & Anyinam, 2017, p. 156).
Research indicates that technology implementation in higher education requires buy-in
from stakeholders. Educators surveyed at a South African nursing school found that instructors
lacked experience or training on virtual simulation, “Only 8 (10%) are at the competent or expert
level” (Janse van Vuuren, Seekoe, & Goon, 2018, p. 9). The study also found that one-third of
respondents had received no training at all in the implementation of simulators in their nursing
program. The study found that “nurse educators are keen on adopting technology in their daily
work-related activities evidenced by high optimism and innovation scores and low discomfort
and insecurity scores” (Janse van Vuuren et al., 2018, p. 16). Researchers Zitzelberger et al.
(2017) noted that buy-in from nurse educators was critical in technology implementation as they
Emerging Technology in Nursing Education
Name
Western Governors University
College of Health Professions
,EMERGING TECHNOLOGY 2
Executive Summary
To maintain current in technology trends of healthcare, nursing programs must evaluate
and consider changes in the curriculum to integrate new technologies. A recent technology
introduced to the nursing education curriculum is the use of a virtual patient simulator, I-
Human. This software developed by Kaplan is utilized in higher education to provide students
an interactive interface to assess, diagnosis, and treat patients virtually. It provides a practice
environment for clinical skills, and critical thinking, and a debriefing post-conference.
Currently, the institutions nursing program only provides clinical skills training on-site
at the hospital or nursing home environment. Students arrive to site with their clinical group
and instructors. They are assigned a patient to care for throughout their shift and provide
nursing care in respect to their clinical goals for the day. If the patient is too sick to interact,
away for testing, or disinterested in having a student, the undergraduate may have a poor
clinical experience. This leads to an inability to develop skills necessary to provide safe,
confident patient care. The current nursing program does not have a substitute for this clinical
interaction that can provide practice of skills and critical thinking.
The nurse educator is a leader of change in the institution to introduce and develop
change for educational technology in the 21st century. Challenges found in nursing education
are the institutional program’s inability to adopt and expand their technologies to keep up with
the expanding scope of practice. Quality of education directly affects safety of patient care.
Nursing curriculum must be revised to reflect technology advancements to ensure graduates are
prepared for success.
Video conferencing and virtual simulation are two modern technologies that can
improve nursing education when integrated into the institution’s curriculum. Both technologies
increase
,EMERGING TECHNOLOGY 3
interaction between learners, instructors, and materials to aid learning. Using Lewin’s model of
change, a virtual patient simulator, I-Human will be introduced into the curriculum for “The
Role of the BSN in Promoting Community Health”. A thorough literature review on the two
technologies will develop a need gap analysis. This need will be presented to stakeholders and
evaluated for challenges. A force field analysis will identify the external and internal factors
with implementation and propose solutions. A plan for implementation will be developed and
an analysis of organizational readiness.
The purpose of this proposed technology change is to improve the institution’s nursing
program by maintaining modern curriculum and ensuring students have the skills to succeed.
This change will improve student learning, critical thinking, and their ability to perform clinical
skills. It will prepare them for real-life nursing and provide the confidence needed for
successful careers.
, EMERGING TECHNOLOGY 4
Literature Review
Literature Review Summary Table, refer to Table 1
The role of technology in healthcare is expanding and becoming an integral part of
practice today. In the use of nursing education, technology allows educators to identify student
strengths and weaknesses which enables them to individualize teaching strategies for their
diverse classroom. New technology provides students with an interactive instructional design
and critical thinking skills for their new profession as registered nurses. Students’ ability to be
actively engaged with technology is vital to success in their career. The course, “The Role of the
BSN in Promoting Community Health” is in the process of integrating current technology in its
curriculum. The program will introduce Zoom for Education software and I-Human virtual
simulation into the course. The Journal of Education and Practice notes that developing
comprehensive insight into current nursing educational practices and approaches is necessary to
solidity the foundation for future development of the science for nursing education
(Zitzelberger, Coffey, Graham, Papaconstantinou, & Anyinam, 2017, p. 156).
Research indicates that technology implementation in higher education requires buy-in
from stakeholders. Educators surveyed at a South African nursing school found that instructors
lacked experience or training on virtual simulation, “Only 8 (10%) are at the competent or expert
level” (Janse van Vuuren, Seekoe, & Goon, 2018, p. 9). The study also found that one-third of
respondents had received no training at all in the implementation of simulators in their nursing
program. The study found that “nurse educators are keen on adopting technology in their daily
work-related activities evidenced by high optimism and innovation scores and low discomfort
and insecurity scores” (Janse van Vuuren et al., 2018, p. 16). Researchers Zitzelberger et al.
(2017) noted that buy-in from nurse educators was critical in technology implementation as they
