The Effect of Virtual Reality in Teaching Nasogastric Catheter Application Skills to New Graduate Nurses

Health services play a critical role in improving the quality of life of people and nurses play an important role in the provision of these services. Nursing is a profession that requires a high level of practical competence as well as clinical knowledge and skills (Polat, 2024). The ability of nurses to provide effective patient care is directly related to the effectiveness of their education processes. Providing education processes with high quality and modern methods is critical for nurses to improve their clinical skills and reinforce their professional identities (Kara, 2024). Nasogastric catheter (NGS) application, which is one of these skills, is an important practice in meeting the nutritional needs of patients in many clinical situations. Nurses need to apply this skill correctly and safely in order for patients to be fed properly and the treatment process to function properly (Şendir \& Kızıl, 2019). However, learning NGS application skills requires practical experience as well as theoretical knowledge. Especially newly graduated nurses may face various difficulties in developing such clinical skills. Inadequate educational environments, low number of cases and limited opportunities for practicing lead to difficulties for newly graduated nurses to acquire these skills. This situation may affect the professional competencies of nurses as well as the quality of patient care (Aygin \& Yılmaz, 2022; Güngör et al., 2023; Kulakaç \& Çilingir, 2023).

In addition to traditional training methods, virtual reality (VR) technology stands out as a revolutionary tool in teaching clinical skills. Virtual reality allows nurses to make mistakes and improve their skills in a safe environment before experiencing risky practices in the real world. VR can support nurses to learn clinical skills more effectively, practice and make the right decisions. In this context, virtual reality-based training materials can be used to gain NGS application skills (Sarıkoç, 2016).However, research to determine the impact of virtual reality on nursing is still limited. A more in-depth examination of how virtual reality is used in nursing, its effects on nurses, and the potential benefits of this technology on the teaching of clinical skills will make a significant contribution to the nursing profession. In particular, investigating the effectiveness of virtual reality technology for new graduate nurses to improve their nasogastric catheterization skills may improve the use of technology in nursing education and increase the safety of pre-nurses in clinical skills (Chang et al., 2024).

This study aims to determine the role of virtual reality in education, emphasize the benefits of this technology in clinical skills training, and provide suggestions to increase student success in the education process. In addition, a comparison of traditional training methods and virtual reality-based training methods will reveal the advantages and limitations of both approaches. This research will provide a valuable resource to modernize educational processes and enable nurses to develop their clinical skills more efficiently by providing a new perspective on skill performance in nursing. In this context, the aim of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of teaching nasogastric catheterization skills of new graduate nurses with virtual reality technology.