It is well established that familiarization with the simulation environment is integral to the pre-brief [1]. This fosters psychological safety and creates optimal learning conditions for participants and faculty. We sought to enrich our visitors’ psychological safety by providing a digital preview of our simulated environment, prior to the face-to-face familiarization they receive when attending a course.

Combining 360 and 2D video production techniques we have produced an online experience hosted on the CenarioVR platform. This gives visitors an opportunity to explore the simulated environment, patient and equipment, in their own time, while introducing aspects of the fiction contract. We believe accessibility is key to the utilization of this resource. So we have ensured it can be used on a range of devices including:

Virtual Reality Headsets (HTC/Meta)

The content is cloud-based and accessed via an internet browser across all platforms, requiring no additional app. One limitation is that the experience requires a stable internet connection.

A link to the tour was embedded in our pre-simulation communication to participants and faculty, and its usage and impact was evaluated over a period of 2 months using additional questions in our post-course questionnaire. 50 feedback responses to CenarioVR were received. 24 delegates viewed it 26 did not. Of the 24 that viewed 58.3% agreed virtual tour strengthened their experience, 12.5% strongly agreed, 20.8% neutral, 4.2% disagreed and 4.2% strongly disagreed.

From our data we concluded that over 70% of delegates that viewed the virtual familiarization found it to be beneficial to their simulation experience. With simulation being used more in education it is imperative that those with less experience in this setting are provided with resources they need to feel psychologically safe.

Authors confirm that all relevant ethical standards for research conduct and dissemination have been met. The submitting author confirms that relevant ethical approval was granted, if applicable.