Psychiatric Liaison Service, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Department of Organizational Behavior, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Patient Educ Couns. 2020 Jul;103(7):1435-1438. doi: 10.1016/j.pec.2020.01.019. Epub 2020 Jan 30.
The present study explores students' perspective on the added value of a virtual patient (VP) simulation as part of a breaking bad news training in undergraduate medical education.
The VP simulation allows trying out and practicing different ways of disclosing a cancer diagnosis to a VP (avatar) and to react to emotionally-laden patient statements with the opportunity of self-observation through video recording. After testing the simulation, 23 students shared their experience in focus groups analyzed using thematic analysis.
Self-observation is the most valued feature of the simulation, because it enables users to reflect on their behaviors and adjust them. The competences developed are otherwise technical (e.g., organization of information) and concern less interactional competences. Areas for improvement of the simulation are the interactivity, quality, and diversity of the VPs.
The findings show that VP simulations help develop technical communication competences and are best suited as add-ons to other forms of training, in which relational aspects can be targeted. Self-observation is especially valued because it allows for a critical view regarding one's own communication behaviors in a stress-free environment.
The proposed simulation is beneficial as an add-on to lectures, supervision, and simulated patient interviews.
本研究探讨了学生对虚拟患者（VP）模拟作为本科医学教育中不良消息披露培训的附加价值的看法。
VP 模拟允许尝试和练习向 VP（化身）透露癌症诊断的不同方法，并通过视频记录有机会自我观察对充满情感的患者陈述做出反应。在测试完模拟后，23 名学生在焦点小组中分享了他们的经验，使用主题分析进行了分析。
自我观察是模拟最有价值的特征，因为它使使用者能够反思自己的行为并进行调整。所开发的能力是技术性的（例如，信息组织），较少涉及互动能力。需要改进模拟的方面是交互性、质量和 VP 的多样性。
研究结果表明，VP 模拟有助于培养技术沟通能力，最适合作为其他形式的培训的附加手段，在这些培训中可以针对关系方面。自我观察特别有价值，因为它可以在无压力的环境中对自己的沟通行为进行批判性观察。
拟议的模拟作为讲座、监督和模拟患者访谈的附加手段是有益的。
