Development of a Virtual Patient Model for Kampo Medical Interview: New Approach for Enhancing Empathy and Understanding of Kampo Medicine Pathological Concepts

Global interest in complementary and alternative medicine has increased in recent years, with Kampo medicine in Japan gaining greater trust and use. Detailed patient interviews are essential in Kampo medicine, as the physician's empathy is critical to diagnostic precision. Typically, medical students develop empathy and deepen their understanding of Kampo's pathological concepts through clinical practice. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has imposed significant restrictions on clinical training. To address this challenge, we propose a novel educational approach to enhance empathy and understanding of Kampo medicine by developing a virtual patient application. This application leverages generative artificial intelligence to simulate realistic patient interactions, enabling students to practice Kampo medical interviews in a safe, controlled environment. The AI-generated conversations are designed to reflect the emotional nuances of real-life dialogue, with the virtual patients' facial expressions synchronized to these emotions, thus enhancing the realism of the training. The suggested method allows repeated practice at any time and fosters the development of essential diag-nostic and empathetic skills. While promising challenges remain in improving these simulations' accuracy, further refinements are still under consideration.