Developing interprofessional health competencies in a virtual world

Abstract

BackgroundVirtual worlds provide a promising means of delivering simulations for developing interprofessional health skills. However, developing and implementing a virtual world simulation is a challenging process, in part because of the novelty of virtual worlds as a simulation platform and also because of the degree of collaboration required among technical and subject experts. Thus, it can be difficult to ensure that the simulation is both technically satisfactory and educationally appropriate.MethodsTo address this challenge, we propose the use of de Freitas and Oliver's four-dimensional framework as a means of guiding the development process. We give an overview of the framework and describe how its principles can be applied to the development of virtual world simulations.ResultsWe present two virtual world simulation pilot projects that adopted this approach, and describe our development experience in these projects. We directly connect this experience to the four-dimensional framework, thus validating the framework's applicability to the projects and to the context of virtual world simulations in general.ConclusionsWe present a series of recommendations for developing virtual world simulations for interprofessional health education. These recommendations are based on the four-dimensional framework and are also informed by our experience with the pilot projects.

Implementation of a Teledentistry Platform for Dental Emergencies for the Elderly in the Context of the COVID‐19 Pandemic in Chile

“…The application of teledentistry might be favoured by a collaborative setting between health, information technology, and education sciences, facilitating the generation of innovative solutions that can turn into technologies with a more efficient social impact [ 17 ]. The irregular Chilean geography and its unequal distribution of specialized dental services for elderly people in urban and rural areas bring a persistent difficulty in access possibilities to centers of specialized dental care, which is intrinsically deficient for this population [ 8 ].…”

<p>An Experimental Study On Usefulness Of Virtual Reality 360° In Undergraduate Medical Education</p>

“…Medical education has evolved rapidly, from using technology in patient care towards the establishment of a smart virtual university hospital imitating a real-life hospital. Similar educational goals are practiced, such as improvement in knowledge retention, psychomotor skills, skill coordination, critical thinking, and learning teamwork 10…”

Interprofessional care of elders

“…Among a variety of innovative pedagogies for promoting interprofessional competencies, virtual worlds have been explored and evaluated in a number of studies with varying levels of success (Cook, ; Heinrichs, Youngblood, Harter, Kusumoto, & Dev, ; Kenaszchuk, MacMillan, van Soeren, & Reeves, ). A framework and checklist for guiding the development of virtual learning environments has even been recommended because of the complexity of collaboration needed between technical and subject experts (King et al., ). As more research is done to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual learning environments, its many benefits for IPE are becoming clear.…”