In an Australian first, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) is set to make immersive virtual reality (VR) training in aggression and violence prevention mandatory for all its first-year nursing students before they begin clinical placements.
The initiative comes as healthcare workers across Australia face rising incidents of violence, with a recent survey of the NSW Nurses and Midwives Association finding 88 per cent of nurses, midwives and carers had witnessed violence or aggression at work.
Developed in partnership with Sydney-based immersive learning company Start Beyond and based on data from health and safety and psychosocial risk specialists The Risk Collective, the program uses VR headsets to place students inside realistic healthcare situations where they are required to recognise aggressive behaviours, make decisions under pressure and practise de-escalation techniques in a safe, virtual environment.
UTS will embed the training into its nursing curriculum from next year, with the aim of ensuring all 600+ new nursing students have the opportunity to complete the program before entering a clinical setting.
UTS’ decision follows a successful pilot in which 90 per cent of participants said the simulation was useful in helping them identify early warning signs and take appropriate action to de-escalate and stay safe.
UTS School of Nursing & Midwifery deputy head of school (Teaching and Learning) Professor Jacqui Pich pointed to evidence of violence against nurses as a basis for ensuring students have practical strategies for recognising escalating situations and “keeping themselves safe before they encounter such threats in the real world.”
“Traditional teaching methods can only go so far, whereas VR creates a much more immersive learning experience, while ensuring our students’ physical and psychological safety,” Prof Pich said, adding she hoped the program would help establish a new benchmark for nursing education.
“We know this is a gap in healthcare education and we would love to see other universities explore similar approaches because we all have a duty of care to prepare students as best we can for the environments they’ll be working in.”
UTS School of Nursing & Midwifery clinical academic lead Lucy Rosenberg noted that students can find themselves exposed to challenging situations very early in their careers.
“While most placements are positive experiences, incidents involving aggression occur more often than we’d like. Students now have an opportunity to learn in a safe environment and understand both best-practice responses and the consequences of poor decisions,” Ms Rosenberg said.
“The immersive nature of VR makes it much closer to real life than traditional classroom role play. Students aren’t responding to a colleague pretending to be a patient. They feel like they’re actually in the situation.”
Start Beyond CEO Angus Stevens said VR offered a unique opportunity to prepare healthcare workers for emotionally charged situations without exposing them to real-world risk.
“The power of VR is that it can make people feel something. When people feel something, they remember it. When they remember it, they learn from it.” Mr Stevens said, noting that Start Beyond had seen similar transformative results across healthcare, retail and hospitality.
“Healthcare professionals often do their invaluable work in high-stress environments in which they are exposed to unpredictable situations that can escalate rapidly to become dangerous.
“Our training uses VR to recreate that complexity and emotional intensity in a safe environment where students can practise, make mistakes and build confidence.”
The Risk Collective founder & principal consultant Amy Towers said the training scenarios were grounded in behavioural research and real-world workplace data.
“We analysed common patterns of aggressive behaviour across multiple sectors, including healthcare, aged care, retail and hospitality. The goal was to help people recognise behaviours before situations escalate,” Ms Towers said.
“The scenarios are designed around evidence-based behavioural profiles and de-escalation strategies. The training we developed with Start Beyond gives participants practical skills they can apply in high-pressure situations while reducing the emotional and physical risks associated with learning those lessons in real life.”
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