UNC Greensboro School of Nursing (SON) is using artificial intelligence (AI) to improve nursing instruction, patient care, and nursing practice with virtual tools that create rich real-world experiences, emphasize ownership, and increase engagement. We are improving and enhancing it.
Lindsey Draper, clinical associate professor and director of nursing, director of faculty certification, compliance and special initiatives, said the immediate integration of practical experience was a game-changer.
“You can talk about health conditions in class and then put on a virtual reality headset and practice patient care,” she says. “You can connect theory to clinical practice on the spot, before you go to the clinic.”
Additionally, students say virtual experiences make them feel more confident, capable, and empowered.
“They don’t have a preceptor or coach watching their every move. They’re nurses, and they make the decisions,” Draper said. “Even after putting on the headset for the first time, they told me they felt the most like a nurse since they started nursing school. That’s really amazing.”
Why not use AI?
From integrated simulations to dynamic tools for students and faculty, AI has played a key role throughout the UNCG nursing education experience.
“The big question is, why not use AI? AI is a tool that helps us create unique and realistic patient scenarios for students that reflect the real world,” Draper said. Masu.
If the topic is diabetes, students can use AI to assess patients, determine what tests nurses need, and create questions for conversations with patients.
“In medicine, it’s very difficult to explain concepts to patients,” she says. “As nurses, we know what we’re talking about, but that doesn’t always translate to patients, their families, and the community.”
Students can also create their own case studies and reflect on their experiences. “What was the AI response?” What was it missing or could have done wrong?
“So it’s not just about learning, it’s about critical thinking,” Draper says. “This is a great tool for a more holistic approach to engagement, relevance and ownership in education.”
Virtual reality: collaboration, retention
Starting in 2023, SON has integrated VR into its undergraduate and nursing practitioner programs specifically as a simulation tool. They use MetaQuest2 headsets and Oxford Medical Simulation, which provides access to over 230 scenarios and the option to create your own.
“When you do regular simulations with standardized patients, you can only have so many students participating at once,” Draper says. “VR allows you to fill in for people who are not actively participating in the scenario.”
“You can see what other students are seeing by participating in small groups or having one person wear a headset while you screencast to the TV,” says Draper. says Mr. “This reduced simulation downtime and resulted in a more rewarding experience.”
Nicholas Eberhart, a fourth-year nursing student who is scheduled to graduate in May 2025, praised the use of VR to learn about preeclampsia, saying, “It basically provides a risk-free learning pathway and is a great way to help obstetric patients. “It helped me deepen my understanding of care.”
Draper also points to the benefits for nursing graduates taking the national civil service exam, which is based on the application of scenario-based learning. AI tools help students retain information better because they provide opportunities to listen, see, and do.
In the future, SON hopes to incorporate augmented reality into student VR experiences and explore how VR can be used for mass casualty simulations for interprofessional education and disaster preparedness.
Other uses of AI
Instructors are using AI to create course descriptions. Design, improve, and revise curriculum. Streamline assignments from learning objectives. and generate a rubric.
“Medicine and nursing can be complex, and AI is a great tool to simplify instruction and make content more relevant to students,” Draper says.
SON used AI to create new master’s, undergraduate, and DNP curricula, which unified efforts and inspired creative ideas. These curricula are in the approval process and are expected to be available to students in fall 2025.
NUR 375 Nursing Informatics and Technology 2 students were asked to use AI to create a class assignment for a given week.
“At first I was shocked by the use of AI,” says nursing student Richelle Hensen. “But I quickly realized the value of AI in creating assignments, test questions, or learning summaries. AI can think creatively and open new avenues for nursing research. . I’m worried I’ll use it too much.”
critical thinking required
Draper is not at all concerned with the idea that AI will stop learning.
“I think it’s quite the opposite,” Draper says. “If used correctly, AI can help people become smarter because it involves critical thinking, evaluation processes, and creativity.”
“This is not a passive tool. Nothing happens unless you do something with it,” she says. “That’s why we teach our students from the beginning how to use it to enhance their learning, rather than replace their thinking.”
Draper says a balanced integration of AI is paramount for both faculty and students. What is AI? How can I use it ethically and responsibly? What does academic integrity look like when I start using AI?
A module developed as part of UNCG AI Teaching Grants will be implemented across three courses in a variety of nursing programs to address these important questions.
What happens next?
SON wants to build multiple and dynamic uses for AI, while also disseminating the information and involving others.
“We are all in,” says Dean Debra Barksdale. “AI is transforming student learning, faculty productivity, and patient care.”
Barksdale and several UNCG nursing faculty are contributing to these advances through their roles in the National Organization of Nurse Teachers (NONPF) AI special interest group. In addition, Barksdale will serve as a liaison to the American Academy of Nursing’s AI Task Force to develop health care policy and address the ethical use of AI.
“We are thinking about how we can share what we do in the School of Nursing with not only our campus but the broader community,” Draper says.
This includes speaking at conferences and various groups across the state about the changing landscape of health care and the use of AI to prepare and upskill the workforce.
“We also continue to explore ways to successfully introduce and embed AI tools that students actually use into academic environments,” Draper said.
Story by: Juliana Proffitt McCully, AMBCopy LLC
Photo courtesy of Sean Norona, University Communications
Photo provided by: School of Nursing
