How SELU Uses VR to Prepare Learners for Abnormalities They Can't Practice on Peers

Key Takeaways

• Custom VR scenarios expose students to dozens of abnormalities impossible to replicate with standardized patients or peers
• Students who use UbiSim in their first two semesters consistently perform better in clinical settings and achieve higher clinical grades
• First-semester physical assessment training proved to be VR's most impactful application for SELU

The Abnormality Problem

Duane started using UbiSim’s Intuitive Editor to build custom scenarios.

"The customization and creation of individual scenarios are essential for our program," Duane explains. Every nursing program has unique needs—different clinical sites, evolving protocols, specific learning objectives. He worked with clinical instructors—faculty who evaluate students in actual hospital settings—to understand what students were encountering at the bedside.

Students arrived at clinical unprepared to recognize abnormalities. They'd practiced assessments dozens of times in skills lab on their healthy classmates. But when they encountered patients with atypical heart sounds, abnormal lung sounds, or neurological deficits, they hesitated. They second-guessed themselves. They missed critical findings.

The problem wasn't lack of practice. It was lack of exposure.

“With standardized patients, students are limited. You can't create real abnormal heart sounds. You can't produce actual adventitious lung sounds. You can't manufacture wounds or unstable vital signs.”

But in VR? Duane could create many different scenarios.

Building Scenarios That Match Hospital Reality

The process became deeply collaborative. "Scenario customizations are heavily influenced by clinical instructors who provide insights into what students are actually encountering in hospital settings," Duane notes. Using the Intuitive Editor, Duane built and modified scenarios himself—no programmer needed—allowing him to respond immediately to clinical instructor feedback. "The ability to make medication and treatment changes, as well as adapt to evolving procedures, policies, and guidelines, is crucial.”

With this customization, his team created what he calls cumulative scenarios, or ones where patients have multiple things wrong simultaneously and need head-to-toe assessments. 

"We’ve built a UbiSim scenario where everything that could be wrong is wrong, and students learn to detect abnormalities in a way they can’t with standardized patients. The VR environment's ability to expose students to numerous abnormalities, such as atypical heart or lung sounds, wounds, and vital signs, is unique and realistic," Duane explains. “Students work in pairs with assessment checklists, facilitating peer-to-peer learning while faculty provide support as needed.”

Finding the Sweet Spot

Duane and his faculty team identified where VR delivered the most value: first-semester physical assessment training. “That's our sweet spot right now," Duane says.

It made sense. First-semester students need extensive exposure to abnormal findings before they ever set foot in a clinical setting. They need to hear different heart sounds, lung sounds, and patient responses. They need to assess wounds and recognize neurological deficits. They need repetition and variety—exactly what VR scenarios could provide infinitely and consistently.

And then the results started coming in. 

Clinical faculty—who evaluate students at the bedside without knowing their VR exposure—began noticing something. The students who'd used UbiSim in their first two semesters were different. They recognized abnormalities faster. They asked better questions. They were more confident in their assessments.

"Students exposed to UbiSim in their first and second semesters consistently perform better in clinical settings and achieve higher overall clinical grades," Duane reports. It wasn't anecdotal. It showed up in measurable clinical performance evaluations and final grades. "Students who have had exposure to UbiSim perform better at the bedside.”

The VR scenarios did what traditional methods couldn’t: they prepared students for the reality of clinical practice before they ever encountered a real patient.

Looking Forward

Duane says, "I highly recommend VR for institutions, especially those with limited space or equipment, due to its cost-effectiveness and ease of maintenance."

Southeastern Louisiana University is already planning expansion: dedicated VR rooms in a new campus addition will allow them to broaden implementation beyond physical assessment into full scenarios with facilitators.

But for now, the results speak for themselves: Students arrive at clinical having already encountered the abnormalities they need to recognize. When faculty evaluate their performance, the difference is measurable and consistent.