Immersive VR Simulation for Hospital Fire Safety and Evacuation: Design and Testing

Purpose:**Background Hospital fire emergencies require fast, coordinatedstaff responses to protect vulnerable patients. Traditional training often lacksrealism and engagement, limiting retention and preparedness. Immersive VirtualReality (VR) offers a promising solution by enabling lifelike, repeatable trainingin a safe environment. This study evaluates a VR-based fire safety trainingprogram developed for a Jordanian hospital.Methods: A serious VR game was custom-designed to replicate hospital wards,fire protocols (R.A.C.E., P.A.S.S.), and emergency conditions. Developed incollaboration with clinical staff and safety experts, the simulation emphasizedrealism, interactivity, and procedural fidelity. Content validity (CVI ≈ 0.94) andface realism were established through expert review and pilot testing. Forty hospitalstaff were randomly assigned to VR or traditional training. Knowledge,self-efficacy, and practical fire drill performance were assessed pre-training, posttraining,and at 4-week follow-up. Post-training interviews provided qualitativeinsights.Results: The VR simulation provided a highly interactive, immersive environmentthat closely mirrored the actual hospital setting, offering participants alifelike emergency experience. The VR group demonstrated significantly greaterknowledge gains (mean +3.3 vs. +1.3; p ¡ 0.001) and better retention (8.1 vs.16.2; p ¡ 0.001). Self-efficacy improved more in the VR group (+1.3 vs. +0.5; p =0.004). In drills, 90% of VR participants completed all required actions correctly,vs. 65% of controls. VR-trained staff responded 35 seconds faster on average.Participants highlighted the realism and contextual relevance as key learningadvantages.Conclusion: Immersive VR training significantly enhances hospital staff’s firesafety knowledge, confidence, and real-world emergency performance.