Hindawi Publishing Corporation Nursing Research and Practice Volume 2012, Article ID 765212, 7 pages doi:10.1155/2012/765212 Research Article Innovative Simulation Strategies in Education Michelle Aebersold, Dana Tschannen, and Melissa Bathish Nursing Business and Health Systems, University of Michigan School of Nursing, 400 North Ingalls, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA Correspondence should be addressed to Michelle Aebersold, mabersol@umich.edu Received 2 October 2011; Revised 14 January 2012; Accepted 15 January 2012 Academic Editor: John Daly Copyright © 2012 Michelle Aebersold et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The use of simulation in the undergraduate nursing curriculum is gaining popularity and is becoming a foundation of many nursing programs. The purpose of this paper is to highlight a new simulation teaching strategy, virtual reality (VR) simulation, which capitalizes on the technological skills of the new generation student. This small-scale pilot study focused on improving interpersonal skills in senior level nursing students using VR simulation. In this study, a repeated-measure design was used to evaluate the eﬀectiveness of VR simulation on improving student’s performance over a series of two VR scenarios. Using the Emergency Medicine Crisis Resource Management (EMCRM) tool, student performance was evaluated. Overall, the total EMCRM score improved but not signiﬁcantly. The subscale areas of communication (P = .047, 95% CI: −1.06, −.007) and professional behavior (P = .003, 95% CI: −1.12, −.303) did show a signiﬁcant improvement between the two scenario exposures. Findings from this study show the potential for virtual reality simulations to have an impact on nursing student performance. 1. Introduction The use of simulation in health care education is gaining popularity and is becoming a foundation for many under- graduate nursing programs. Most of the studies in the area of medical simulation focus on high-ﬁdelity simulators or task trainers. However, there are potential correlations between the eﬀectiveness of mannequin-based simulators and other types of simulation including virtual reality simulation. Ac- cording to Gaba [1], simulation is a “technique” not a tech- nology and focuses on recreating real-life situations to allow students to practice or gain skills in a safe environment. Many simulation centers use a variety of simulation techniques including low-ﬁdelity task trainers such as IV insertion arms and high-ﬁdelity human patient simulators, such as Laerdal’s SimMan. High-ﬁdelity mannequin-based simulation has been proven to be eﬀective in both knowledge and skill acquisition and transfer [2–5]. A recent systematic review by Lapkin et al. [6] found that simulation improves critical thinking skills, knowledge acquisition, and the ability to identify a deteriorating patient. Another systematic review by Harder [7] found the use of simulation, when compared to other teaching methods, and improved health care students skills in the majority of studies examined. Human patient simulators are beneﬁcial for working with students in many clinical patient situations; however, other methods of simulation, such as simulations in virtual environments, may be appropriate for certain settings and learner objectives and can be used in addition to mannequin- based simulation. The advantage to using other methods of simulation such as virtual simulation may increase student exposure to simulation in areas where access to a simulation center is limited. The ability to facilitate active learning in multiple venues increases the opportunities for students to gain experiential learning critical to their success. The current generation of students is exposed to more computer based learning techniques than previous generations and social networking is a common way students engage with each other both in and out of the classroom. These computer savvy students or digital natives, people who were born into and raised in the digital world [8], are likely to be comfortable engaging in virtual simulations, therefore making this a viable simulation technique. The purpose of this paper is to highlight a virtual sim- ulation technique that capitalizes on the technological skills of this new generation of students with the purpose of de- veloping key interpersonal skills (e.g., communication, dele- gation, conﬂict management, decision making, etc.) critical