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Virtually Walking in a Patient's Shoes-the Path to Empathy?
Carrie A Elzie1, Jacqueline Shaia1
1Department of Pathology and Anatomy, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA USA.
Medical Science Educator
|August 30, 2021
Summary
Medical students are losing empathy during training. Immersive virtual reality offers a way to restore empathy and enhance patient care by allowing users to experience others' perspectives.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Healthcare Technology
- Psychology
Background:
- The patient-physician relationship is foundational in medicine.
- Empathy is crucial for effective clinical practice.
- Medical students exhibit declining empathy levels during training.
Purpose of the Study:
- To explore the potential of immersive virtual reality (VR) to counteract the erosion of empathy in medical students.
- To investigate if VR experiences can improve clinical practices.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing immersive virtual reality technology.
- Designing VR scenarios for users to experience situations from another person's perspective.
Main Results:
- Immersive VR allows visceral, first-person experiences.
- Potential to reverse empathy decline in medical trainees.
Conclusions:
- Immersive VR is a promising tool for empathy restoration in medical education.
- VR may enhance future physician empathy and patient care quality.
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