Using virtual reality in medical education to teach empathy.

J Med Libr Assoc

Professor and Director of Geriatrics Education Research, Division of Geriatric Medicine, College of Osteopathic Medicine, University of New England, Biddeford ME 04005.

Published: October 2018

Objective: The project adopted technology that teaches medical and other health professions students to be empathetic with older adults, through virtual reality (VR) software that allows them to simulate being a patient with age-related diseases, and to familiarize medical students with information resources related to the health of older adults.

Methods: The project uses an application that creates immersive VR experiences for training of the workforce for aging services. Users experience age-related conditions such as macular degeneration and high-frequency hearing loss from the patient's perspective. Librarians and faculty partner to integrate the experience into the curriculum, and students go to the library at their convenience to do the VR assignment.

Results: The project successfully introduced an innovative new teaching modality to the medical, physician assistant, physical therapy, and nursing curricula. Results show that VR enhanced students' understanding of age-related health problems and increased their empathy for older adults with vision and hearing loss or Alzheimer's disease.

Conclusion: VR immersion training is an effective teaching method to help medical and health professions students develop empathy and is a budding area for library partnerships. As the technology becomes more affordable and accessible, it is important to develop best practices for using VR in the library.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6148621PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.5195/jmla.2018.518DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

virtual reality
8
medical health
8
health professions
8
professions students
8
older adults
8
hearing loss
8
medical
5
reality medical
4
medical education
4
education teach
4

Similar Publications

Hypnotherapy for Smoking Cessation, Sleep, Pain, and the Potential of Hypnosis Apps.

Int J Clin Exp Hypn

January 2025

Psychology & Neuroscience, Baylor University, Waco, Texas, USA.

This issue of the provides a systematic review of hypnotherapy for smoking cessation as well as a systematic review of hypnosis apps. These reviews are followed by articles that examine hypnotherapy for sleep disturbances in patients with multiple sclerosis, and provide results from a randomized clinical trial of immersive virtual reality to reduce pain and anxiety in individuals undergoing orthopedic surgery. In addition, an important new study, with findings that suggest a "general factor" may best account for hypnotizability is presented.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Cerebral palsy (CP) is a neurological disorder that can affect motor skills and psychophysiological well-being. Virtual Reality Exercise (VRE) improves cognitive and physical outcomes in patients with CP. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of VRE on attention, vigor, and decision-making abilities in adolescents with CP.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Augmented Reality for extremity hemorrhage training: a usability study.

Front Digit Health

January 2025

Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics and Systems Engineering, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy.

Introduction: Limb massive hemorrhage is the first cause of potentially preventable death in trauma. Its prompt and proper management is crucial to increase the survival rate. To handle a massive hemorrhage, it is important to train people without medical background, who might be the first responders in an emergency.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Virtual reality (VR) holds significant promise for psychiatric research, treatment, and assessment. Its unique ability to elicit immersion and presence is important for effective interventions. Immersion and presence are influenced by matching-the alignment between provided sensory information and user feedback, and self-presentation-the depiction of a user's virtual body or limbs.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Baseline dependent differences in the perception of changes in visuomotor delay.

Front Hum Neurosci

January 2025

Center for Tactile Internet With Human-in-the-Loop, Technical University of Dresden, Dresden, Germany.

Introduction: The detection of, and adaptation to delayed visual movement feedback has been extensively studied. One important open question is whether the Weber-Fechner Laws hold in the domain of visuomotor delay; i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!