AI-enhanced VR Patient Encounter 3.0

3D VR-based Clinic Visit Training for Nursing Students 

This project is a collaboration between the TELL Lab and the Russell D. & Mary B. Shelden Clinical Simulation Center. We upgraded the project with AI-enhanced capabilities to help first-year nursing students practice communication skills as part of the Introduction to Nursing course curriculum. 

Introduction

We developed a series of AI conversational agents, each designed with distinct, human-like personas to simulate real patient interactions. All conversations took place within a fully immersive Virtual Reality (VR) environment. By interacting with these virtual AI patients, student nurses were able to engage in realistic dialogue scenarios, enabling them to practice clinical communication in a safe and controlled setting. These experiences supported students in improving both their interpersonal communication abilities and their performance when engaging with real patients in clinical practice. 

This picture shows the prototypes of the three different AI-patient personas