Development and effectiveness of the META-CARES program in enhancing nursing students' pediatric patient safety competency: A quasi-experimental study.

BACKGROUND

Integrated patient safety nursing competencies are vital in pediatric nursing. The metaverse based simulation program could enhance nursing students' pediatric patient safety competency fostering deeper holistic development.

AIM: This study aims to develop and identify the effect of the META-CARES (METaverse Appli-CAtions for Real-world Educational Success) Program using ZEPETO on patient safety competency, patient safety communication, learning immersion, and learning satisfaction among nursing students.

DESIGN

A non-randomized, quasi-experimental, pretest-posttest design was used to develop, implement, and verify a Metaverse application-based patient safety enhancement program at nursing school in South Korea.

PARTICIPANTS

Sixty-two senior nursing university students were assigned to two groups: the experimental and control groups.

METHODS

We developed the Metaverse-based META-CARES Program to enhance patient safety competency through the creation of the pediatric field using Metaverse Zep and ZEPETO. The program included an online lecture, a quiz on the Zep platform, a Metaverse rounding discussion, and a ZEPETO-based simulation on managing medication errors and fall accidents in the pediatric field. The program was tested on senior nursing students. The outcomes, including patient safety competency, patient safety communication, learning immersion, and satisfaction were measured pre and post-program. The data were analyzed using SPSS 29.0.

RESULT(S): The experimental group showed significantly higher patient safety communication skills (t = 2.63, p = 0.011) and deeper learning immersion than that of the control group (t = 2.22, p = 0.030). Patient safety competency and learning satisfaction showed no significant difference between the groups.

CONCLUSION(S): These findings indicate that the META-CARES program, developed using Metaverse applications, such as Zep and ZEPETO, effectively enhances the patient safety communication and learning immersion of nursing students.