Experiencing COVID-19 Through the Patient Lens to Promote Empathy: Pilot Testing a Virtual Reality Learning...

Area of Science:

• Medical Education
• Patient Experience
• Virtual Reality Applications

Background:

• High-quality, person-centered care necessitates understanding the patient experience, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Empathy, the ability to understand and respond to patient experiences, is linked to improved patient and clinician outcomes.
• Evidence on effective empathy training methods, particularly for COVID-19, is mixed, though virtual reality (VR) shows promise.

Purpose of the Study:

• To pilot test a 360° VR video, co-developed with patients, among interprofessional healthcare providers (HPs).
• To explore the acceptability and utility of the VR video in promoting empathy.
• To gather feedback for improving future VR empathy training tools.

Main Methods:

• A 360° VR video was created based on patient partners' lived experiences with the healthcare system.
• Eleven interprofessional healthcare providers reviewed the VR video.
• Focus groups were conducted with HPs to analyze their experiences and perceptions of the video, followed by thematic analysis.

Main Results:

• The VR video content was found to be acceptable and useful by healthcare providers.
• Participants indicated the video enhanced their understanding of the patient experience.
• Qualitative feedback provided insights for refining future VR empathy training modules.

Conclusions:

• The pilot study demonstrates the potential of VR video as an effective tool for empathy education in healthcare.
• The developed VR video is a promising resource for improving healthcare providers' understanding of patient perspectives.
• Further development and testing of VR-based empathy training are warranted based on positive initial findings.