Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 18, 2025
Project-Based Learning Guidelines for Health Sciences Students: An Analysis with Data Mining and Qualitative Techniques
Published on: December 9, 2022
A Systematic Approach to Developing Virtual Patient Vignettes for Pediatric Health Equity Research
Siddika S Mulchan1,2, Megan Miller3,4, Christopher B Theriault2
1Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Connecticut Children's,Hartford, Connecticut, USA.
Insights
This study outlines a systematic method for creating virtual patient (VP) vignettes to study health equity in pediatric pain care. These realistic VP vignettes help identify factors influencing provider decisions and health disparities in youth pain management.
Area of Science:
- Medical Education
- Health Equity Research
- Pain Management
Background:
- Virtual patients (VPs) are increasingly used in medical education.
- Health equity in pediatric pain care requires understanding provider decision-making.
- Existing VP models may not fully capture the nuances of pediatric pain expression.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe a systematic approach for developing virtual patient (VP) vignettes.
- To create realistic VP vignettes for health equity research in pediatric pain.
- To assess the utility of VP vignettes in understanding provider decision-making.
Main Methods:
- Developed full-motion virtual characters depicting empirically supported pain expressions.
- Used an iterative process with animation and clinical expertise for realism.
- Created accompanying text vignettes and piloted with pediatric providers (N=13).
Main Results:
- Virtual patients accurately portrayed key aspects of pediatric pain expression and behavior.
- Revisions improved VP realism and clarity of text vignettes based on expert and provider feedback.
- The developed VP vignettes were perceived as realistic and relevant for clinical decision-making.
Conclusions:
- A systematic framework for developing VP vignettes was established.
- VP vignettes offer a novel approach to isolate psychosocial factors influencing health equity in pediatric pain.
- Further research is needed to validate VP vignettes for assessing provider behavior contributing to health inequities.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to describe a systematic approach to developing virtual patient (VP) vignettes for health equity research in pediatric pain care.
Methods:
VPs were initially developed to depict the body posture and movements of actual children experiencing pain. Researchers and clinicians with expertise in pediatric pain worked closely with a professional animator to portray empirically supported pain expression in four, full-motion, virtual male characters of two races (i.e., White and Black). Through an iterative process, VPs were refined to (1) appear realistic in a clinical setting and (2) display archetypal pain behavior and expression during a 1-min video clip without sound. Text vignettes were developed with consultation from experts in pain care and presented alongside VPs to assess clinical decision-making. VP vignettes were piloted in a sample of pediatric providers (N=13).
Results:
Informed by the literature and expertise of stakeholders, several revisions were made to improve VPs' facial grimacing and realism before piloting. VPs appeared to accurately capture important aspects of pain expression and behavior common among pediatric patients with pain disorders. Additional refinements to the text vignettes were made based on provider feedback to improve clarity and clinical relevance.
Conclusions:
This article presents a working framework to facilitate a systematic approach to developing VP vignettes. This framework is a first step toward advancing health equity research by isolating psychosocial and interpersonal factors affecting provider behavior and decision-making. Future research is needed to validate the use of VP vignettes for assessing provider behavior contributing to health inequities for youth with pain disorders.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:13Patient-centered Care
01:25Models of Health Promotion and Illness Prevention I
The health belief model (HBM) attempts to predict health-related behavior in specific belief patterns. According to the HBM, a person's...
01:18Models of Health Promotion and Illness Prevention II
The agent-host-environment model states that disease results...
01:26Methods Of Healthcare Delivery System
Managed Care System:
The managed care system is designed to control the cost while maintaining the quality of care. The patient's care from admission to discharge is planned by the primary care provider or the case manager, also known as the gatekeeper. In a managed care system, the number of care providers is...
01:15Nursing Implementation
The five steps to implementing effective nursing care include reassessing the patient, reviewing and revising the existing nursing care plan, organizing the resources and care delivery, anticipating and preventing complications, and implementing nursing interventions.
01:27Nursing Clinical Information System
A Nursing Clinical Information System (NCIS) is a specialized type of healthcare information system tailored to meet the unique needs of nursing practice. It incorporates the principles of nursing informatics to streamline information management and improve the quality of care delivery.
Critical attributes of NCIS include: