--- title: "Mayo Clinic VR case study: A Day In a Lifetime for nurses" description: "A VR series People Tech Revolution built for Mayo Clinic nurse and social worker leaders, and what two peer-reviewed studies found when leaders used it." canonical: https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/mayo-clinic-a-day-in-a-lifetime --- [Our Work](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work) / [Case Studies](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies) # Mayo Clinic: A Day In a Lifetime A VR series for nurse and social worker leaders at Mayo Clinic, and two peer-reviewed papers on what it changed. Request access to the full Mayo Clinic case study Facing his reflection in a hospital room. ## Built with Mayo nurses, from their own days A Day In a Lifetime is a series of short VR experiences People Tech Revolution built for Mayo Clinic nurse and social worker leaders, co-designed with the Mayo Clinic team and drawn from the lived experience of Mayo nurses. Two peer-reviewed papers by Mayo Clinic authors document the rollout and its measured effect on empathy and upstander behaviour. ## What Mayo wanted its leaders to be able to do Recognise bias, racism and microaggressions when they happen on the frontline, respond in the moment, and model inclusive behaviour for the team, rather than treat the subject as a one-off lecture. A nurse leader decides whether to speak up. ### Speaking up is a skill, not a slide A lecture can name a microaggression. It cannot put you in the breakroom when one lands on a colleague, with the rest of the team watching to see what you do. Mayo wanted its leaders to feel that moment first, and then to practise the response. > "It's not just about seeing a different perspective - it's about feeling it. That's where real change begins." Simon Lowe CEO, People Tech Revolution. [Forbes, 13 June 2025](https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaheenajanjuhajivrajeurope/2025/06/13/inside-the-leaders-mind-how-vr-training-gets-below-the-surface/) ## What PTR built Short scenarios set in a staff breakroom and a patient room, co-designed with Mayo nurses who had lived experience of workplace racism and microaggressions, many of whom identify as Black, Indigenous or people of colour. Two colleagues at a table in the breakroom. A bedside conversation in a patient room. A patient speaks in his own time. ### Embody it, then rehearse it Each scenario has two halves. First the participant experiences the bias first-hand, embodying a Black nurse. Then they re-enter the same scene as themselves and practise speaking up. The discussion stays out of the app: a live, facilitated group debrief, by design. The scene through your own hands. Back in the scene as yourself. Choosing a response, seated across from someone. ## How it was offered to 1,149 leaders Three major Mayo Clinic campuses and four US regions, with 1,131 of the 1,149 attending. Delivery combined 100 VR headsets with 28 two-hour virtual class sessions over four months. A facilitator checks in mid-session. ### Headsets in the room, debrief in the group Each class paired the VR scenarios with a small-group debrief led by trained facilitators. The headset is where the moment lands. The debrief is where it turns into something a leader will do differently on the next shift. ## What Mayo measured Mayo Clinic evaluated the program twice: an education survey answered by 593 of the 1,131 attendees (52.4%), and a separate randomised program evaluation reported in the same [JONA paper](https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000001503). Two hands reach toward a forearm. 91.9% agreed or strongly agreed the learning objectives were achieved 90.3% agreed the small-group debrief was effective 86.2% felt the VR simulation was valuable to their professional growth 89.2% would take part again The first two figures are from the education survey of 593 respondents; the last two from the randomised program evaluation. [Nelson et al., The Journal of Nursing Administration, 2024](https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000001503) A nurse crouches to a patient's level. ### Real enough, and not always comfortable 93.4% said the scenario felt like real life. 61.1% rated the overall activity very good or excellent, and the authors point to technical issues, discomfort with the content and the class's mandatory nature as possible reasons. A companion controlled study in [Social Science & Medicine](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117648) found statistically significant gains in empathy and in willingness to act as an upstander against a control group, with most of those gains still present six to eight months later. ## The rooms where it happens Bias rarely arrives in a meeting. It arrives at a bedside, in a consult with a family, in a corridor, and the leader in the room has seconds to respond. These are the rooms PTR builds for that moment. Speaking to the patient, not to the interpreter. A relative gestures beside a facilitator. A midwife leans toward a new mother. ## What a director of the program said Quoted in Forbes, June 2025. > "We saw measurable improvements in confidence, communication, and inclusive leadership behaviors across diverse care settings." Dr Alec J. Williams, DNP, CNP A director of the program, Mayo Clinic. [Quoted in Forbes, 13 June 2025](https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaheenajanjuhajivrajeurope/2025/06/13/inside-the-leaders-mind-how-vr-training-gets-below-the-surface/) Want a program like this for your own nursing leaders? [Open the contact form](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/mayo-clinic-a-day-in-a-lifetime#contact) Ask our CEO Simon Lowe’s Digital Twin a question ## Sources Each figure above, with its authors and the site that published it. ### [Promoting Nursing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Through Virtual Reality Learning](https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000001503) The Journal of Nursing Administration, 2024 Nelson, D. E., Burkhartzmeyer, H. L., Kiker, K. M., Simiele, K. C., Proulx, A. L., Arcand, L. L., Alcock, L. R., Frederick, R. K., Phelan, S., and Storsveen, A. S. People Tech Revolution built the modules through Equal Reality, a subsidiary of People Tech Revolution, which the paper names as the external VR developer. ### [A virtual reality intervention to increase interracial empathy and upstander behaviors in nursing leaders](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117648) Social Science & Medicine, 2025 Phelan, S. M., Burkhartzmeyer, H. L., Standen, E. C., Arcand, L. L., Kiker, K. M., Simiele, K. C., Proulx, A. L., Storsveen, A. S., Deng, Y., Foote, J. M., Kumbamu, A., Prakaashana, A. N., and Nelson, D. E. ### [Inside The Leader's Mind: How VR Training Gets Below The Surface](https://www.forbes.com/sites/shaheenajanjuhajivrajeurope/2025/06/13/inside-the-leaders-mind-how-vr-training-gets-below-the-surface/) Forbes, 2025 Shaheena Janjuha-Jivraj. The article that quotes Dr Williams on the program's results. Related PTR work Related PTR work - [Google: VR DEI training](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/google-vr-dei-training) - [Healthcare & Medical case studies](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/healthcare-medical) - [Full research detail](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/research-evidence/vr-nursing-leaders-mayo-clinic) - [Healthcare & Medical](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/healthcare-medical) - [All case studies](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies)