Virtual reality education for preventing safety incidents in pediatric hospital settings: Quasi-experimental design pre-post-testing

Aims: This study aimed to develop and analyze a virtual reality (VR)-based safety incident prevention program for hospitalized children.

Design and methods: This quasi-experimental study investigated the effects of a VR-based safety incident prevention education program among children hospitalized in a hospital in South Korea. The participants were children aged 4-6 years admitted to a pediatric ward between April 1, 2021, and March 31, 2022. The experimental group received the VR-based safety incident prevention program immediately after-and on the second day of-admission, whereas the control group received the usual hospital intervention.

Results: After implementing the VR-based safety incident prevention education among the hospitalized children, the mean change in post-pre-test scores for hospitalization safety knowledge was 1.48 ± 2.27 for the intervention and -0.36 ± 2.51 for the control group (p = .001). The change in scores for awareness was 0.49 ± 0.22 for the intervention and -0.07 ± 0.37 for the control group (p < .001). The changes in scores for behavior were 0.53 ± 0.41 and -0.05 ± 0.37 for the intervention and control group (p < .001).

Conclusions: This study's results demonstrate that VR-based education is an effective intervention that can stimulate children's interest better than the existing oral education and can be useful as a means of education in pediatric wards.

Implication to practice: VR-based educational programs can be effectively utilized to prevent safety incidents among hospitalized children. Pediatric nurses are recommended to integrate the advantages of VR-based educational programs into their clinical practice to enhance patient safety.