SC44 ‘I’m sorry doctor but I didn’t hear that….’: developing a Virtual Reality (VR) hearing impairment learning experience for medical students

Abstract

While it is reasonable to assume that most healthcare students have an empathic disposition, evidence suggests that empathy levels often decline during the period of enrolment in an undergraduate health degree. Despite the need for more attention to the development of empathy as an employability skill, many healthcare programs only pay lip service to this concept. Against this backdrop we developed a Virtual Empathy Museum (VEM): an innovative digital resource funded by an Australian Technology Network of Universities grant. The VEM includes evidenced-based simulations, digital stories, and a range of other educational materials, designed to enhance healthcare students and practitioners' empathy skills and enable them to make a positive impact on patient care. This presentation will introduce the VEM with the aim of starting a conversation (or perhaps even a 'movement') that leads to empathy being included as an integral component of every healthcare curriculum. The relationship between empathy and patient outcomes will be explored; and the results of a systemic review that examined the effectiveness of immersive and experiential simulation-based interventions in empathy education will be presented. 2

Feasibility of a Computer Role-Playing Game to Promote Empathy in Nursing Students: The Role of Immersiveness and Perspective

“…8,9 Immersive virtual reality for nursing education Immersive virtual environments are frequently used to create various scenarios for educational purposes as virtual reality (VR) becomes more affordable and accessible. 10 Recently, VR is applied to enhance health care students' understanding of and empathy for different populations, including older adults with age-related health issues, 10 patients with hearing loss, 11 and people from a different cultural background. 12 The findings all suggested that immersive experience provided by VR is effective at training empathy.…”