Experiences in using immersive virtual characters to educate medical communication skills

This paper presents a system which allows medical students to experience the interaction between a patient and a medical doctor using natural methods of interaction with a high level of immersion. We also present our experiences with a pilot group of medical and physician assistant students at various levels of training. They interacted with projector-based life-sized virtual characters using gestures and speech. We believe that natural interaction and a high level of immersion facilitates the education of communication skills. We present the system details as well as the participants' performance and opinions. The study confirmed that the level of immersion contributed significantly to the experience, and participants reported that the system is a powerful tool for teaching and training. Applying the system to formal communication skills evaluation and further scenario development will be the focus of future research and refinement.