Virtual Antenatal Encounter and Standardized Simulation Assessment (VANESSA): Pilot Study.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Neonatology
• Simulation Technology

Background:

• Prenatal counseling at the limits of viability requires sensitive provider-family communication.
• Current training relies on high-stress practice; decision aids are not universally adopted.
• Virtual standardized patients offer a novel educational modality, but simulations for prenatal counseling are undescribed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess neonatal providers' ability to identify emotions in a virtual prenatal patient.
• To evaluate the frequency of empathic responses during simulated counseling sessions.

Main Methods:

• A virtual patient simulation (VANESSA) was developed with realistic emotional displays.
• Twenty-four neonatal providers interacted with VANESSA, identifying emotions and responding to statements.
• Data collected via surveys and thematic analysis of open-ended responses.

Main Results:

• Providers accurately identified emotions 77.8% of the time and felt confident in their assessments.
• The ethics-interested subgroup showed a higher frequency of empathic responses (P=.002).
• VANESSA was rated as easy to use with realistic dialogue.

Conclusions:

• Virtual prenatal counseling simulation is feasible and provides valuable communication data.
• The simulation demonstrated high rates of emotion recognition and provider empathy.
• This technology can enhance training for neonatal providers in sensitive communication.