Using virtual reality simulation to address racism in a healthcare setting

Racism continues to plague Western societies' institutions, including the healthcare system. Despite the evidence of racism's negative impacts on healthcare providers, administrators, patients, and families, healthcare workers report hesitancy in taking action to address racism in the workplace. Simulation, with its experiential pedagogy and foundation in psychological safety, may be an educational tool to support practical training. Guided by a social cognitive view of regulation of learning, we piloted virtual reality (VR) modules focused on addressing bias, privilege, and microaggressions. We used pre-/post-surveys, reflective journals, built-in VR platform data, and simulation debriefing session notes to better understand the effectiveness and usability of these VR modules in our organization. Overall, participants found the VR modules highly valuable, and we noted a shift in participants' reported intentions to take action to address racism in the workplace. Participants also noted the importance of a multifaceted plan that goes beyond education to ensure a meaningful culture shift toward addressing racism at work. Practical lessons from this pilot study included the necessity of an informed debriefing plan focused on participants' positionality and power and the need to deeply understand our institution's information technology (IT) environment to ensure successful deployment of VR technology.