Delivering bad news is a stressful, sensitive task for physicians. Researchers from Medical Cyberworlds and the University of Michigan have developed a virtual patient system to educate physicians on improving empathetic skills, with findings published in Patient Education and Counseling.

Students currently role-play to practice communication skills, a rather resource-intensive method of training that can have mixed results. A lack of communication skills in physicians can lead to lower patient satisfaction and higher rates of complaints and malpractice claims.

"Healthcare has long needed innovative learning methods to better engage students in constructing knowledge and produce better learning outcomes," said research collaborator Tim Guetterman, PhD, of the University of Michigan. "We are hopeful that, through our work, we have taken a significant step in that direction."

MPathic-VR, a Medical Cyberworlds application, uses computer-based virtual patients who can see, hear and react to students in real-time. The virtual patients are able to converse and have the ability to interact with a wide range of behaviors commonly seen in everyday communications. The software evaluates students' body language, facial expression and communication strategies. Afterward, the application is able to give feedback on the students' strategies and provide personalized suggestions for improvement.

In a study of 421 American students form three medical schools, researchers tested the application by splitting the students into a group testing the application and the control group using conventional teaching methods.

"Communication is the most important part of the doctor-patient relationship," said lead author Frederick Kron, MD, an adjunct researcher at the University of Michigan Medical School and founder of Medical Cyberworlds. "We found that virtual human simulation was an engaging and effective tool to teach medical students advanced communication skills and, very importantly, that skills in the simulation transferred into a more realistic clinical situation."