A VR-Based Trauma Nursing Education Program for Clinical Nurses: Integrating Jeffries' Model and the 5E Learning Cycle.

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Nurses' professional competencies are critical in trauma patient care, and educational programs that strengthen these competencies contribute to improved patient safety and higher-quality care. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of a virtual reality (VR)-based trauma nursing education program by applying Jeffries' simulation model and the 5E Learning Cycle. METHODS: A quasi-experimental, non-equivalent control group pretest-post-test design was employed. Participants were 34 nurses with more than one year of clinical experience, recruited from three university hospitals in Daegu, Korea, each with over 800 beds. Participants were allocated to either the experimental group (n = 17) or the control group (n = 17). The experimental group received the VR-based program, while the control group received standard training. Effectiveness was assessed using validated questionnaires measuring trauma-related knowledge, confidence in trauma care, and emergency nursing competency. Data were analyzed with repeated-measures ANOVA. RESULTS: The experimental group demonstrated significant improvements in trauma-related knowledge and confidence in trauma care compared with the control group. Emergency nursing competency also increased significantly in both groups over time, but the degree of improvement did not differ between groups. CONCLUSIONS: The VR-based trauma nursing education program, designed using Jeffries' simulation model and the 5E Learning Cycle, enhanced trauma-related knowledge and confidence among clinical nurses. Although no between-group difference was found for emergency nursing competency, the findings provide foundational evidence supporting the use of VR-based interventions to advance emergency and critical care nursing education.