Transforming Healthcare Education through XR and AI (XRHealthEdu)
XRHealthEdu
Funders
Project information
Project duration
-
Project funder
Funding amount
1 227 198 EUR
Project coordinator
University of Oulu
Unit and faculty
Contact information
Project leader
- ProfessorKristina Mikkonen
Project description
The project aims to provide nursing students and staff with immersive, interactive learning experiences that strengthen clinical skills, decision-making, and readiness for modern healthcare. By bringing together expertise from Finland and Norway, the project fosters cross-border collaboration to drive innovation in healthcare education.
To reflect the diverse realities of nursing practice, the project will develop XR-based simulations focusing on interprofessional collaboration in emergency care and palliative home care within a Sami cultural context. These scenarios combine clinical realism, cultural sensitivity, and technological innovation to better prepare learners for real-world patient care.
The initiative contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals by strengthening health education and workforce capacity (SDG 3), promoting quality and inclusive learning (SDG 4), driving innovation in educational technology (SDG 9) and promoting international partnerships for knowledge exchange (SDG 17).
Follow the project: https://www.linkedin.com/company/xrhealthedu-transforming-healthcare-education-through-xr-and-ai/
Project website: https://www.interregaurora.eu/approved-projects/transforming-healthcare-education-through-xr-and-ai-xrhealthedu/
Project results
Anticipated outcomes include:
- Design and develop an XR-based curriculum with need-driven virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) modules that simulate clinical environments and patient interactions, covering key nursing competencies
- Create and customize XR and AI nursing simulations with adaptive learning for personalized need-based education and real-time feedback and assessment during the learning process, featuring 3D learning environments, AI-generated human avatars, and innovative supervision solutions in Finnish, Sámi, and Norwegian
- Integrate the XR-based curriculum and technology into real-world nursing education, assessing its impact on learning outcomes for students and newly graduated nurses
- Develop a protocol for demonstration and evaluation, along with pedagogical XR guidelines for healthcare education.
The project’s outcomes are expected to have a lasting impact on nursing education, offering scalable and sustainable solutions that can be adapted to various contexts and regions. By improving the quality and effectiveness of nursing education, the project contributes to the broader goal of enhancing healthcare quality and patient safety.
Research groups
Lapland University of Applied Sciences (UAS)
