Abstract Interactive Digital Patient for Triage Nurse Training

We present a prototype of a Digital Patient (DP) to serve as an interactive virtual reality training tool for nursing students. Our system allows a nurse to verbally interview, observe, and examine a digital patient in a way similar to how one would interact with a real patient. In this paper, we describe the details of the system and report on a preliminary feasibility study performed with a group of six student nurses. Each participant interacted with a DP afflicted with chicken pox. After their sessions with the DP, the participants answered a series of questionnaires and a short interview to determine their evaluation of the DP as a useful training tool. All the participants were able to successfully interview the DP and produce an initial assessment of their condition. We found that the nursing students thought the DP would be a helpful system for gaining practical experience in interaction with patients. Further research will focus on improving the system’s communication, expa...