SIMmersion Expands Distribution of Virtual Reality Training to Leading Portal for Public Health Professionals
Columbia, MD (PRWEB) January 30, 2015 -- One constant across all fields in the health care sector is the vital importance of the relationship between providers and patients. Whether the providers are oncologists, addiction counselors, pediatricians or nurses, their ability to communicate effectively can have a huge effect on outcomes and quality of life for their patients. SIMmersion’s innovative virtual reality technology, which helps providers build their communication skills in difficult conversations, is expanding to a broader audience than ever after being selected for inclusion on Train.org, the premier educational resource for users in the helping professions.
Train.org is a project of the Public Health Foundation funded by national non-profits, state and federal agencies and educational institutions. Health care professionals who set up a free registration can browse course listings on all the competencies relevant to their jobs, finding both in-person and online activities that meet their professional development goals.
“It’s an ideal portal for us to reach some of our key audiences,” says Dale Olsen, PhD, President of SIMmersion. “We’re focused on helping doctors, nurses, and health professionals of all kinds build their communication skills, so the easier it is for all those groups to discover our courses, the bigger our impact can be.”
SIMmersion’s PeopleSim conversation engine creates virtual reality experiences that are unique in the health care simulation field. Patients are portrayed in video by real actors, offering higher social presence than simulations with 3D avatars. Users choose what they want to say at any moment from an expansive script that allows them to change topics, follow up and backtrack freely, so they can say what they want to say, when they want to say it. The patients on-screen have several distinct personalities that vary from play to play. How they choose to respond to each user statement is informed by the topics already covered, the particular personality present in that conversation, their current level of rapport with the user (as determined by the user’s behavior in the conversation so far), and an element of random chance. This structure creates training experiences with high replay value that can mimic a wide variety of clinical situations.
Four of SIMmersion’s state-of-the-art training systems are accessible on http://www.train.org. The courses and the scenarios they cover are:
*Prescription Drug and Pain Management Training System: Tom Kramer wants a refill on the opioid medication he uses to manage his chronic pain. Practice three essential conversations for safe and effective prescribing: screening for risky behaviors, establishing prescription agreements, and discontinuing opioid use.
*Alcohol Screening and Brief Intervention Training System: Christy Johnson needs a check-up after a minor car accident. Review and apply best practices for screening, brief intervention and referral to treatment with a simulated patient who may have no risk, some risk, or high risk for problems associated with alcohol use.
*Motivational Interviewing Training System: Jack Grant's cocaine use is affecting his life, but he's not sure he wants to stop using. Learn and practice Motivational Interviewing (MI) techniques like establishing a partnership, providing support, using reflections, eliciting client perspective and evoking change talk.
*Talking With Patients About Health Risk Behaviors: Tony Frazier is having chest pains. Use the spirit of Motivational Interviewing (MI) in a primary care setting to uncover the health risk behavior behind his symptoms and help him plan for change.
These courses can help providers build the skills and confidence they need to communicate effectively with patients on a range of difficult topics in health care. Through a new partnership with Train.org, SIMmersion will be able to support an even broader range of practitioners and help build a better, more effective health care system for patients nationwide.
All SIMmersion systems are also available for free trials at training.simmersion.com
About SIMmersion
SIMmersion’s mission is to train communication skills faster and more effectively by combining the world's most realistic simulated experiences with highly interactive training content and extensive user feedback. For more information, contact SIMmersion online or at 443-283-2555.
Dale Olsen, SIMmersion, http://www.SIMmersion.com, +1 4432832504, [email protected]
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