Videoconferencing Applications for Training Professionals on Nonverbal Communication in Online Clinical Consultations

The use of videoconferencing technologies for clinician-patient online consultations has become increasingly popular. Training on online communication competence through a videoconferencing application that integrates nonverbal communication detection with feedback is one way to prepare future clinicians to conduct effective online consultations. This case report describes and evaluates two such applications designed for healthcare professionals and students in healthcare-related fields.

We conducted a literature review using five databases, including the Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, ACM, IEEE, and CINAHL in the spring of 2022.

We identified seven studies on two applications, ReflectLive and EQClinic. These studies were conducted by two research groups from the USA and Australia and were published between 2016 and 2020. Both detected nonverbal communication from video and audio and provided computer-generated feedback on users' nonverbal communication. The studies evaluated usability, effectiveness in learning communication skills, and changes in the users' awareness of their nonverbal communication. The developed applications were deemed feasible. However, the feedback given by the applications needs improvement to be more beneficial to the user. The applications were primarily evaluated with medical students, with limited or no attention given to questions regarding ethics, information security, privacy, sustainability, and costs.

Current research on videoconferencing systems for training online consultation skills is very limited. Future research is needed to develop more user-centered solutions, focusing on a multidisciplinary group of students and professionals, and to explore the implications of these technologies from a broader perspective, including ethics, information security, privacy, sustainability, and costs.