Concordia University Pioneers Immersive Nursing Education in VR

For a nursing student, it's one thing to plod through a dry textbook — and quite another to put on a headset and take a 3D tour inside the human body. Concordia University of Portland, Oregon, a liberal arts university serving roughly 5,500 students in more than 20 fields of study, became the first nursing school in Oregon to teach this way, pairing Enduvo's content authoring and distribution software with HP EliteDesk workstations and HTC Vive headsets.

“I understand we are the first school of nursing in Oregon to use virtual reality in this way, so it's a huge differentiator for us. It's a better way to learn than reading chapter after chapter in a dry book.” — Mary Oakes, Assistant Professor of Nursing and head of the simulation and skills lab, Concordia University

A program built for acceleration

Alongside its traditional four-year nursing degree, Concordia launched an Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program with Orbis Education, combining online coursework, on-site simulation lab instruction, and in-hospital clinical rotations — graduating students ready to sit for their licensure exam in as few as 16 months. Admitting 72 students three times a year and competing with more than a dozen Portland nursing schools, Concordia needed to scale capacity while standing out on quality and innovation.

From idea to immersive lesson in hours

Enduvo visited campus with a complete solution and a simple premise: people with no IT expertise can create powerful VR content. Oakes volunteered to be Concordia's first VR content creator, tackling an upcoming module on the 12 cranial nerves. Enduvo pulled a suitable digital model from its asset library, and within hours Oakes had built a VR lesson complete with critical-thinking discussion points and task-based assessments — no software developers, graphic designers, or studio time required.

“When they showed me the model, where I could walk inside a man's body and actually look up at those little olfactory nerves from the very bottom of the cerebrum hanging like little chandeliers, I thought, ‘Wow.’ I've been a nurse for 35 years. But I'd never seen anything like that.” — Mary Oakes

Teaching nurses to think, not memorize

The lessons prompt students to reason through scenarios — what would the clinical manifestations of a head injury be? How might a disease progression unfold? — in what feels like a one-on-one, real-world 3D experience. “Students have grabbed me by the shoulders to say, ‘I get it! It makes sense! That's the coolest thing!’” Oakes says. “You've touched somebody's life. That's what's so fun about education.”

In her experience, most nurses are visual learners: the more visuals an educator can provide, the better the educational outcomes and student satisfaction — and the more nurses graduate able to think through why they're doing something, and whether it's safe.

Better outcomes for hospitals and patients

Concordia measures success concretely: maintaining the 100% pass rate its inaugural class achieved on the NCLEX-RN licensure exam, high student satisfaction, and employer satisfaction with the graduates they hire. Next, Oakes wants VR to travel beyond the on-campus simulation lab to mobile headsets students can use at home and in their communities.

“I see the combination of Enduvo software, HTC Vive headsets, and HP EliteDesk hardware as a win for all. We can attract the best students and enhance their education, creating better outcomes for patients and hospitals.” — Mary Oakes