Students in Allan Hancock College's nursing program took part in virtual simulation training at the college's Santa Maria campus Thursday.
The virtual simulations program was implemented earlier this year to augment the student's classroom learning, school officials said.
Students can get "hands-on experience" and apply the skills they learn in class through the program.
Teachers create the scenarios and individualize them to adjust the level of difficulty for students in different stages of the program, Eileen Donnelly, Allan Hancock College's Licensed Vocational Nursing program Director. said.
Students participating in the virtual simulation program Thursday said the scenarios they were given were "very realistic."
"Everything that you would see in a clinical setting, you can see in the VR, all of your assessment and intervention tools, your stethoscopes, your pen lights, your blood pressure cuffs," Jeffrey Rehkoef, an LVN student said. "You can take labs and blood draws, you can administer medications, you can receive phone calls from the doctor, you can get orders, immediate order changes through a computer."
School officials said the college's nursing programs are fully accredited by the California Board of Registered Nursing.
