Case Western Reserve University is looking at three new ways to train student dentists with mock patients: face-to-face actors, a Second Life-based training ground, and an immersion theater with virtual patients. Working with a three-year Innovative Dental Assessment Research and Development (IDEA) Grant from the American Dental Association's Joint Commission on National Dental Examinations, Kristin Z. Victoroff is most interested in virtual worlds and augmented reality.
Case Western has already been using DentSim since 2001 to train physical dexterity and teach specific operations. Victoroff, from the dental medicine's department of community dentistry, is directing the new project towards teaching soft skills like communication.
Already 70 students from last year's dental class participated in a pilot study with live actors and virtual patients during communication skills training at the Mt. Sinai Skills and Simulation Center at the Veterans Administration Hospital. Now the school is moving forward.
But working with live patients in face-to-face interactions presents ethical and logistical challenges, which is the benefit of using virtual worlds as a training ground.
"Ideally it is not that we are out to prove that virtual worlds or the [Virtual Immersion Center for Simulation Research] system is better than standard instruction, but that they are of equal value," VICSR Director Stacy Williams said in a statement.
When not actually in the immersion theatre, students will simply use portable LCD screens to interact with a Second Life avatar designed to portray an elderly woman named Masha. Presumably, there's a real person behind Masha's keyboard, but now that actor can work with the students from any place at any time.
It seems to be effective training, too. According to the researchers, students respond to the avatars with real reflection.
"Virtual patients have much to offer in training healthcare providers, and it is equally important to explore how interactive virtual reality technology can enhance assessment of competency," said Victoroff.
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