Further information

ResultsMethods - simulation

Methods - participants

Active and adult learning theories highlight the benefits ofsimulation-based medical education over traditional teachingmethods. Generally the simulationis used to build technical skills bysimulating the patient for the studentto practise on.

FrailtySIMBuilding empathy with older people living with frailty through virtual reality – an observational study

Dr Dawn Moody; Dr Sunil Angris; David Seymour

Using a games engine to replicate a 3-Denvironment, the virtual living space wascreated, building in clues about the person’ssituation and interest.

An avatar (Victor) was built with variablefrailty-related impairments: vision (cataractsand macular degeneration); hearing (tinnitusand poor hearing); and mobility (walk speed).

A scenario that gives the user prompts andsimple tasks to do to experience life as“Victor” was developed.

“Virtually” walk in the shoes of an olderperson with frailty to increaseunderstanding of their situation and helpdevelop greater empathy

Promote observational skills and developgreater awareness of clues in theenvironment about an individual and theirsituation.

Deploy novel assistive technology tosupport training goals and thereby mirrorone of the skills for supported self-care

FrailtySIM, has been developed as part of aNottinghamshire-wide programme to train health andcare professionals to better support older people withfrailty to self-care.

The three learning goals of the intervention are: FrailtySIM has been used with over 450 staff from across thehealth and care sectors to introduce a person-centred case studyat whole day training events and as part of 2-hour sessionsdesigned to build awareness of frailty.

Information about participants has been gathered as part of thebooking process for the training. Feedback about FrailtySIM hasbeen gathered from participants immediately after completion ofthe exercise to evaluate the impact of the intervention. Thebroader programme has also assessed baseline understanding andconfidence and re-tested 3 months post-training.

FrailtySIM appears to be an effective Frailty trainingintervention for improving awareness, understanding and empathyacross a very broad spectrum of health and care professionals,when deployed as part of either awareness sessions or whole-daytraining events.

The equipment and software were considered easy to set-up anduse by most participants, whilst the size and cost of theequipment make the intervention highly scalable and effective asa team-based learning experience.

More research is required to understand the longer-term impacton the quality of interactions between professionals and olderpeople living with frailty, and improvements to the observationalskills of professionals.

Future developments include different scenarios and settings ofcare, deployment earlier in careers, and testing with a wider rangeof groups in different communities.

Simulation suits allow practitioners to experiencesome aspects of an individual’s condition or situatione.g., Age Simulation Suits. However, cost andpractical constraints mean that suits are difficultto scale up and deploy as a shared learningexperience.

Organisationsrepresented

450+50+

60% NHS25% local authority15% private, voluntary

or charitable

15Average number of years participant had worked in the health & care sectors

47% Worked in the community

X52%Of those working in community DID NOT have access to a smart phone

What words would you use to describe the VR experience to a colleague?

“A modern approach to training allows us to see people's lives through their eyes.”

“Food for thought! Observational skills tested in a real environment from individual's perspective.”

“It was very disorientating and really makes you think how difficult things can be when you feel vulnerable.”

“Enlightening - takes me back to being a student and the opportunities that are lost in training!”

Head phones

Samsung Phone

VR goggles

david@fusion48.netwww.fusion48.net/frailtywww.frailtytoolkit.org

FrailtySIM has been developed as part of the Frailty & Supported Self-Care Toolkit and associated training programme which wascommissioned by Nottinghamshire Local Education and Training Council (LETC) and funded by Health Education England in the East Midlands.The development was supported by VR Simulation Systems, with particular thanks to Tim Luft and Janie Biddiscombe for their help and advice.

Background

Objectives

Methods - equipment

50+

IndividualsDifferent roles

How would you rate the following aspects?

Count of participant responses 1Poor

2Fair

3Neutral

4Good

5Excellent

Mean (Variance)

Ease of set up and use 5 35 54 234 1364.0

(0.8)n=464

Quality of virtual reality experience (e.g., audio-visual, environment, interaction)

3 19 30 232 1814.2

(0.6)n=465

Duration of VR experience 1 34 63 243 1234.0

(0.7)n=464

Relevance to Learning Outcomes 2 10 33 197 2184.3

(0.6)n=460

Helpfulness in building empathy / walking in the shoes of an older person with frailty?

3 5 20 156 2804.5

(0.5)n=464

Conclusions

Acknowledgements