ReviewJournal of Korean biological nursing science2026
Effects of virtual reality-based simulation education for nursing students: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Review in Journal of Korean biological nursing science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Purpose: This study conducted a systematic analysis of the effects of virtual reality (VR)-based simulation education on nursing students' learning outcomes. Methods: Studies involving undergraduate nursing students who received immersive or non-immersive VR-based simulation education, compared with conventional nursing education, were identified from Cochrane CENTRAL, EMBASE, PubMed, CINAHL, ACM Digital Library, NDSL, KISS, DBpia, and RISS, from database inception through February 28, 2025. The primary outcomes were nursing skill performance and knowledge, while the secondary outcomes were self-efficacy and confidence in nursing performance. Only randomized controlled trials were included. A total of 21 studies met the inclusion criteria and were synthesized using a random-effects meta-analysis. Effect sizes were calculated as standardized mean differences (SMDs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: Across 21 randomized controlled trials, the meta-analysis showed that VR-based simulation education had no statistically significant effects on nursing skill performance (n = 759, SMD = 0.18; 95% CI: -0.47 to 0.82) or confidence in nursing performance (n = 1,157, SMD = 0.12; 95% CI: -0.20 to 0.43). In contrast, statistically significant positive effects were observed for knowledge (n = 1,009, SMD = 0.32; 95% CI: 0.08 to 0.57) and self-efficacy (n = 696, SMD = 0.46; 95% CI: 0.11 to 0.81). Conclusion: VR-based simulation education represents an effective educational approach for improving nursing students' knowledge and self-efficacy. Future implementations should align the type and complexity of VR simulations with specific educational goals and content, while accounting for potential variation related to instructional design, learner characteristics, and outcome measures.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.