Title: Validating a virtual human and automated feedback system for training doctor-patient communication skills
Effective communication between a clinician and their patient is critical for delivering healthcare maximizing outcomes. Unfortunately, traditional communication training approaches that use human standardized patients and expert coaches are difficult to scale. Here, we present the develop- ment and validation of a scalable, easily accessible, digital tool known as the Standardized Online Patient for Health Interaction Education (SOPHIE) for practicing and receiving feedback on doctor-patient communication skills. SOPHIE was validated by conducting an experiment with 30 participants. We found that participants who underwent SOPHIE performed significantly better than the control in overall communication, aggregate scores, empowering the patient, and showing empathy (p < 0.05 in all cases). One day, we hope that SOPHIE will help make communication training resources more accessible by providing a scalable option to supplement existing resources. more »« less
Ali, Mohammad Rafayet; Sen, Taylan; Kane, Benjamin; Bose, Shagun; Carroll, Thomas M.; Epstein, Ronald; Schubert, Lenhart; Hoque, Mohammed Ehsan
(, IEEE transactions on affective computing)
null
(Ed.)
In this paper, we describe the iterative participatory design of SOPHIE, an online virtual patient for feedback-based practice of sensitive patient-physician conversations, and discuss an initial qualitative evaluation of the system by professional end users. The design of SOPHIE was motivated from a computational linguistic analysis of the transcripts of 383 patient-physician conversations from an essential office visit of late stage cancer patients with their oncologists. We developed methods for the automatic detection of two behavioral paradigms, lecturing and positive language usage patterns (sentiment trajectory of conversation), that are shown to be significantly associated with patient prognosis understanding. These automated metrics associated with effective communication were incorporated into SOPHIE, and a pilot user study identified that SOPHIE was favorably reviewed by a user group of practicing physicians.
Afflerbach, Benjamin; Fathema, Nafsaniath; Gillian-Daniel, Anne; Crone, Wendy; Morgan, Dane
(, ASEE Annual Conference and Exposition,)
The Informatics Skunkworks program provides a new framework for engaging undergraduates in research experiences, with a focus on the interface of data science and materials science. The program seeks to provide authentic research, engaged personal learning, and professional development while also being efficient, accessible, and scalable. Initially developed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, participation continues to grow, with over 90 students engaged in research or training activities during the Fall 2021 semester from 4 institutions. The Skunkworks focuses on reducing barriers to engagement for mentors and students in undergraduate research by replacing bespoke and ad-hoc approaches with efforts and infrastructure that are reusable and scalable, including simplified standardized recruiting methods, online modular training resources, flexible undergraduate accessible software tools, long-term research projects with many similar but distinct components to engage large teams, and support from a learning community. For example, new students have the option to participate in a modular, self-paced, online onboarding curriculum that teaches students the basic skills needed for most data science projects, thereby dramatically reducing the mentor time needed to engage students with limited background in machine learning research. Projects are authentic research challenges that strive to allow for large flexible teams, thereby scaling up their impact from the typical engagement of just one or two students and allowing for extensive peer teaching. Throughout the program, professional development activities are efficiently delivered through standardized materials to teach critical research skills like record keeping, establishing group expectations and dynamics, and networking. These skills are also reinforced at workshop events hosted during the semester, which are effectively delivered online and yield growing impact for modest effort as the community grows. The program has been successfully implemented as evidenced by the last two semesters' evaluation findings through interviews, focus groups, and pre-post surveys. The students reported a positive attitude towards the program. Students' perception about machine learning knowledge and skills and their self-confidence improved after they got involved in the program. The instructors and mentors indicated positive teaching and mentoring experiences, and shared ideas on the further improvement of the program. Building on its early successes the team is continuing to implement evaluation data-driven improvements to the program with the goal of continuing to grow through new collaborations.
Huang, Jingyan; Ashcraft, Catherine M; Mo, Weiwei
(, PLOS ONE)
Joseph, Naveen
(Ed.)
This paper presents a serious game that simulates a water crisis triggered by the spill of an unregulated chemical. The game includes five stakeholder roles representing a chemical manufacturer, resident, water treatment plant, environmental agency, and health department, in addition to a facilitator role. The game seeks to provide players with practical experience of the communication and collaboration needed among different stakeholders to prepare for and respond to water contamination emergencies. Initial findings from game sessions with 41 participants suggest that frequent, proactive, and transparent communication can expedite the decision-making process and resolve the crisis more effectively. The game results also reveal challenges in inter-organizational coordination and communication, highlighting the need for training and standardized communication terminologies and protocols.
Ali, Rafayet; Hoque, Ehsan; Duberstein, Paul; Schubert, Lenhart; Razavi, Seyedeh Zahra; Kane, Benjamin; Silva, Caroline; Daks, Jennifer S.; Huang, Meghan; Van Orden, Kim
(, American journal of geriatric psychiatry)
null
(Ed.)
Objective: Communication difficulties negatively impact relationship quality and are associated with social isolation and loneliness in later life. There is a need for accessible communication interventions offered outside specialty mental health settings. Design: Pilot randomized controlled trial. Setting: Assessments in the laboratory and intervention completed in-home. Participants: Twenty adults age 60 and older from the community and a geriatric psychiatry clinic. Intervention: A web-based communication coach that provides automated feedback on eye contact, facial expressivity, speaking volume, and negative content (Aging and Engaging Program, AEP), delivered with minimal assistance in the home (eight brief sessions over 4–6 weeks) or control (education and videos on communication). Measurements: System Usability Scale and Social Skills Performance Assessment, an observer-rated assessment of social communication elicited through standardized role-plays. Results" Ninety percent of participants completed all AEP sessions and the System Usability Scale score of 68 was above the cut-off for acceptable usability. Participants randomized to AEP demonstrated statistically and clinically significant improvement in eye contact and facial expressivity. Conclusion: The AEP is acceptable and feasible for older adults with communication difficulties to complete at home and may improve eye contact and facial expressivity, warranting a larger RCT to confirm efficacy and explore potential applications to other populations, including individuals with autism and social anxiety.
When medical caregivers transfer patients to another person’s care (a patient handoff), it is essential they effectively communicate the patient’s condition to ensure the best possible health outcomes. Emergency situations caused by mass casualty events (e.g., natural disasters) introduce additional difficulties to handoff procedures such as environmental noise. We created a projected mixed reality simulation of a handoff scenario involving a medical evacuation by air and tested how low, medium, and high levels of helicopter noise affected participants’ handoff experience, handoff performance, and behaviors. Through a human-subjects experimental design study (N = 21), we found that the addition of noise increased participants’ subjective stress and task load, decreased their self-assessed and actual performance, and caused participants to speak louder. Participants also stood closer to the virtual human sending the handoff information when listening to the handoff than they stood to the receiver when relaying the handoff information. We discuss implications for the design of handoff training simulations and avenues for future handoff communication research.
Haut, Kurtis, Wohn, Caleb, Kane, Benjamin, Carrol, Thomas, Guigno, Catherine, Kumar, Varun, Epstein, Ron, Schubert, Lenhart, and Hoque, Ehsan. Validating a virtual human and automated feedback system for training doctor-patient communication skills. Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10435052. Int. Conf. on Affective Computing (ACII 2023) .
Haut, Kurtis, Wohn, Caleb, Kane, Benjamin, Carrol, Thomas, Guigno, Catherine, Kumar, Varun, Epstein, Ron, Schubert, Lenhart, & Hoque, Ehsan. Validating a virtual human and automated feedback system for training doctor-patient communication skills. Int. Conf. on Affective Computing (ACII 2023), (). Retrieved from https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10435052.
Haut, Kurtis, Wohn, Caleb, Kane, Benjamin, Carrol, Thomas, Guigno, Catherine, Kumar, Varun, Epstein, Ron, Schubert, Lenhart, and Hoque, Ehsan.
"Validating a virtual human and automated feedback system for training doctor-patient communication skills". Int. Conf. on Affective Computing (ACII 2023) (). Country unknown/Code not available. https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10435052.
@article{osti_10435052,
place = {Country unknown/Code not available},
title = {Validating a virtual human and automated feedback system for training doctor-patient communication skills},
url = {https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10435052},
abstractNote = {Effective communication between a clinician and their patient is critical for delivering healthcare maximizing outcomes. Unfortunately, traditional communication training approaches that use human standardized patients and expert coaches are difficult to scale. Here, we present the develop- ment and validation of a scalable, easily accessible, digital tool known as the Standardized Online Patient for Health Interaction Education (SOPHIE) for practicing and receiving feedback on doctor-patient communication skills. SOPHIE was validated by conducting an experiment with 30 participants. We found that participants who underwent SOPHIE performed significantly better than the control in overall communication, aggregate scores, empowering the patient, and showing empathy (p < 0.05 in all cases). One day, we hope that SOPHIE will help make communication training resources more accessible by providing a scalable option to supplement existing resources.},
journal = {Int. Conf. on Affective Computing (ACII 2023)},
author = {Haut, Kurtis and Wohn, Caleb and Kane, Benjamin and Carrol, Thomas and Guigno, Catherine and Kumar, Varun and Epstein, Ron and Schubert, Lenhart and Hoque, Ehsan},
}
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