The Effect of Immersive Virtual Reality Compared to Current Teaching Methods on Prelicensure Nursing Students’ Learning Outcomes

BACKGROUND: Immersive virtual reality offers flexible learning, providing nursing students with opportunities to develop knowledge and skills. The purpose of this integrative review was to synthesize quantitative evidence on the effect of immersive virtual reality compared to current teaching methods on prelicensure nursing students' learning outcomes. METHODS: Whittemore and Knafl's 5-stage approach for integrative reviews was used. Three electronic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, and ERIC) were searched for articles published between 2012 and 2025 using the search terms virtual reality, education, nursing, baccalaureate, education nursing, undergraduate, and computer simulation. RESULTS: Nine articles met the inclusion criteria. Findings revealed that immersive virtual reality is a teaching strategy that reduces stigma and enhances students' knowledge acquisition, psychomotor skills, communication, preparedness, and attitude. However, there is a lack of evidence supporting whether immersive virtual reality should be used as a supplement to support current teaching strategies or as an alternative to replace teaching methods. DISCUSSION: Current research indicates immersive virtual reality is an efficacious teaching strategy that leads to positive outcomes in prelicensure nursing students. Future research should focus on the effects of immersive virtual reality on clinical judgment and knowledge retention, as this review did not identify any studies related to this topic.