Addressing Nursing Students’ Understanding of Health Equity and Social Determinants of Health: An Innovative Teaching-Learning Strategy

Immersive learning opportunities across care settings enhance nursing students’ understanding of the environmental, social, cultural, and policy factors that influence patients’ health (e.g., social determinants of health) and care utilization. Hotspotting happens when care teams visit patients with frequent hospital admissions to coordinate outpatient care. However, geographic limitations may inhibit the delivery of hotspotting learning opportunities available to students. Delivering immersive hotspotting opportunities over virtual reality helps to overcome this barrier. This overview summarizes the design and implementation of a virtual reality hotspotting experience designed to aid students in understanding the impact of social determinants of health on care transitions.