Using Virtual Patients to Support Empathy Training in Health Care Education: An Exploratory Study.

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Communication Skills Training
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Empathy is crucial for effective patient care but is often suboptimal in practice.
• Intelligent virtual patient simulations present a promising avenue for empathy training.
• This study investigates empathy in speech pathology students using virtual patient simulations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To explore the quality of empathy demonstrated by speech pathology students in virtual patient simulations.
• To assess the effectiveness of virtual patient simulations as an educational tool for empathy development.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the 7-point Empathic Communication Coding System (ECCS) to analyze 388 empathic responses from 72 students.
• Data collected over a 12-week virtual patient interview series across four student cohorts.
• Compared empathy scores across year groups, semesters, and different virtual patient scenarios.

Main Results:

• Median Empathic Communication Coding System (ECCS) scores were 4 out of 6, with most students (89%) scoring between levels 2 and 5.
• Students frequently acknowledged patient emotions and offered solutions or reassurance.
• Infrequent instances of shared feelings or experiences were observed (9% scored level 6).

Conclusions:

• Virtual patient simulations provide a secure environment for practicing empathy skills, complementing traditional learning methods.
• Findings support further research with larger, controlled trials.
• Educators can use these insights to design varied virtual patient scenarios for enhanced empathy training.