CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WCIA) — A team at the University of Illinois is developing a series of virtual reality training modules to improve cultural competency between patients and doctors.
The three modules aim to help health care professionals become more mindful of how they communicate with a wide range of patients, particularly people of color.
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The first virtual reality module focuses on Black maternal health and shows how subtle physician biases can impact patients. The second module teaches how to identify and mitigate personal biases. In the third module, trainees practice intercultural communication skills with a virtual patient.
A pilot study was conducted with 30 medical students and residents. Participants watched the first module and completed a survey that asked them to consider the patient’s opinion about the illness and its impact on their daily life, and to think about whether they would be able to provide satisfactory medical care without the patient’s opinion.
Two open-ended questions also asked how Black postpartum women could receive better care, and participants shared their goals of listening to and prioritizing patients’ feelings and decisions and being more mindful of bedside manner.
The research team determined that following the training, participants’ awareness and attitudes towards bias and culturally appropriate communication improved significantly.
“We know that health disparities for Black mothers influence or are associated with disparities for Black infants, including preterm birth and low birth weight, so to me this is one of the most urgent needs when it comes to women’s and children’s health,” team member Charlie Thompson told the University of Illinois News Bureau in an interview.
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Thompson is the study’s first author and a professor of communication at the University of Illinois. She led the development of the training module with fellow communication professor Mahdia Bishop, Dr. Tiffani Dillard, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Carle Foundation Hospital, and Dr. Joseph Morris of the Creighton University School of Medicine.
Creating the first module was a $40,000 project; the second and third modules are still in development. Dr. Morris of Creighton was also awarded a $100,000 grant for training at the Phoenix campus, which will be used to expand the study sample to about 300 medical students.
Additional study co-authors include Thenkurussi Kesavadas, then-founder and director of the University of Illinois Center for Healthcare Engineering Systems; alumnus Manuel D. Pulido, professor of communications at California State University, Long Beach; Corey Zeinstra, a Boeing software engineer for immersive technologies; Rutgers University graduate student MJ Salas; and University of Illinois graduate students Déjà D. Rollins, Emily A. Mendelson, Jia Yan, Emily R. Gerlikovski and Sarah V. Benevento.
The study is published in the journal Health Communication.
