The validity of a virtual human experience for interpersonal skills education

TLDR

Any new educational tool must be validated, and comparing virtual human interaction to real human interaction is the critical step toward using virtual humans for interpersonal skills education. The study developed the Virtual Objective Structured Clinical Examination (VOSCE) to evaluate its validity for teaching interview skills. The VOSCE presents a life‑size virtual patient with symptoms, grades students on interview skills, and compares their performance to that in a traditional OSCE with a trained actor, involving 33 second‑year medical students. A significant correlation (r = 0.49, p < 0.005) between VOSCE and OSCE scores indicates that interview skills with a virtual human translate to those with a real human.

Abstract

Any new tool introduced for education needs to be validated. We developed a virtual human experience called the Virtual Objective Structured Clinical Examination (VOSCE). In the VOSCE, a medical student examines a life-size virtual human who is presenting symptoms of an illness. The student is then graded on interview skills. As part of a medical school class requirement, thirty three second year medical students participated in a user study designed to determine the validity of the VOSCE for testing interview skills. In the study, participant performance in the VOSCE is compared to participant performance in the OSCE, an interview with a trained actor. There was a significant correlation (r(33)=.49, p<.005) between overall score in the VOSCE and overall score in the OSCE. This means that the interaction skills used with a virtual human translate to the interaction skills used with a real human. Comparing the experience of virtual human interaction to real human interaction is the critical validation step towards using virtual humans for interpersonal skills education.