Immersive VR Platform for Nurses Named TIME Magazine Best Invention

• An immersive VR platform created for nurses was recently named as one of TIME Magazine’s best inventions of 2024 in the education category.
• The honoree, UbiSim, and its parent company believe the increasing complexity of patient conditions requires a higher standard of care that their product can provide.
• The positive press aligns with studies that highlight the benefits of virtual reality in nursing education.

An immersive, virtual reality simulation platform created for nurses has been named one of TIME Magazine’s best inventions of 2024.

UbiSim and its parent company Labster received the accolade in the education category alongside a college direct admissions platform and programmable “orb” that teaches early coding. 

Christine Vogel, MSN, RN, CHSE, CHSOS, lead nurse educator at UbiSim, stated in a news release that patients “present with increasingly complex and severe conditions” that require a higher standard of care and put more responsibility on nurse educators.

“Through UbiSim’s immersive VR scenarios, educators can prepare nurses to care effectively for diverse patients with high acuity needs across the lifespan,” she said.

The positive press aligns with several studies that highlight the benefits of virtual reality and how the technology better prepares nurses for the workforce. 

Tell Me More About this Immersive VR Platform

Labeled as “empathetic nurse training” by TIME, the immersive VR platform provides true-to-life scenarios, allowing students to practice “caring for real-life patients.” It has been in use since 2017 but was upgraded this year to include “scenes featuring patients who are transgender, Black, or living with stigmatized conditions such as HIV and mpox,” TIME reported.

Facilities or universities that use the platform have the option to customize scenarios to their patient populations and can record dialogue.

Bailey Arrata, a senior at National University, uses UbiSim immersive virtual reality as part of her training.

“I have a patient-facing role and have been in hospitals for 10 years, but treating patients is totally different,” Arrata said in a case study on the product’s website. “The nursing performance part is the hardest, and being able to practice that a million times with UbiSim has definitely calmed my anxiety a lot. I truly believe practice makes perfect and permanent learning.”

TIME editors stated that nominations came from the publication’s global pool of editors and correspondents with “special attention to growing fields” like healthcare, AI, and green energy. Submissions were evaluated on originality, efficacy, ambition, and impact, TIME stated.

How Immersive VR Helps Nursing Students 

Fortune Business Insights reported the global VR market size was valued at $25.11 billion in 2023 and projected to reach $244.84 billion by 2032. The healthcare industry is expected to help fuel the industry’s growth.  

Immersive virtual reality could profoundly reshape nursing education, according to a “Journal of Nursing Regulation” study published in July.

“By leveraging technological advancements and cognitive principles, immersive learning environments can revolutionize how nurses are trained and prepared for real-world scenarios,” the authors stated.

Studies out of Wisconsin and Virginia produced similar results.

“We were finding that employers’ expectations of new graduate nurses didn’t always meet the reality of the current educational model,” Marquette University nursing professor Dr. Kristina Thomas Dreifuerst stated in a news release. “With IVRS, students can have simulation experiences that better prepare them for the complexity of health care.” 

A BMC Nursing study published in 2023 found that students who used a JasperVR device believed the virtual reality scenarios were realistic. The students also valued the ability to practice scenarios multiple times and appreciated that they could “make mistakes without fear of impacting care.” However, some students told researchers the VR headsets were uncomfortable and that the scenarios were “less intimidating than a normal simulation.”

However, legal and ethical implications of virtual reality need to be considered as the technology gains more traction in the nursing education industry. 

The Bottom Line

UbiSim, an immersive, virtual reality nursing platform, was named one of TIME Magazine’s best inventions of 2024 in the education category. The accolade reinforces what studies have proven over the past several years — virtual reality scenarios are beneficial for nursing students and have proven to better prepare nurses for their bedside careers. 

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