Designing, implementing and testing an intervention of affective intelligent agents in nursing virtual reality teaching simulations:a qualitative study

Emotions play an important role in human-computer interaction, but there is limited research on affective and emotional virtual agent design in the area of teaching simulations for healthcare provision. The purpose of this work is twofold: firstly, to describe the process for designing affective intelligent agents that are engaged in automated communications such as person to computer conversations, and secondly to test a bespoke prototype digital intervention which implements such agents. The presented study tests two distinct virtual learning environments, one of which was enhanced with affective virtual patients, with nine 3rd year nursing students specialising in mental health, during their professional practice stage. All (100%) of the participants reported that, when using the enhanced scenario, they experienced a more realistic representation of carer/patient interaction; better recognition of the patients’ feelings; recognition and assessment of emotions; a better realisation of how feelings can affect patients’ emotional state and how they could better empathise with the patients

Designing, implementing and testing an intervention of affective intelligent agents in nursing virtual reality teaching simulations - A qualitative study

Emotions play an important role in human-computer interaction, but there is limited research on affective and emotional virtual agent design in the area of teaching simulations for healthcare provision. The purpose of this work is twofold: firstly, to describe the process for designing affective intelligent agents that are engaged in automated communications such as person to computer conversations, and secondly to test a bespoke prototype digital intervention which implements such agents. The presented study tests two distinct virtual learning environments, one of which was enhanced with affective virtual patients, with nine 3rd year nursing students specialising in mental health, during their professional practice stage. All (100%) of the participants reported that, when using the enhanced scenario, they experienced a more realistic representation of carer/patient interaction; better recognition of the patients' feelings; recognition and assessment of emotions; a better realisation of how feelings can affect patients' emotional state and how they could better empathise with the patients

Climate change cannot explain the upsurge of tick-borne encephalitis

Background. Pathogens transmitted by ticks cause human disease on a greater scale than any other vector-borne infections in Europe, and have increased dramatically over the past 2–3 decades. Reliable records of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) since 1970 show an especially sharp upsurge in cases in Eastern Europe coincident with the end of Soviet rule, including the three Balti

Shedding and exclusion from childcare in children with Shiga toxin-producing <i>Escherichia coli</i>, 2018-2022.

Excluding children with Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) from childcare until microbiologically clear of the pathogen, disrupts families, education, and earnings. Since PCR introduction, non-O157 STEC serotype detections in England have increased. We examined shedding duration by serotype and transmission risk, to guide exclusion advice. We investigated STEC cases aged n = 243, 66.2%; STEC non-O157 n = 124, 33.8%). Median shedding duration was 32 days (IQR 20-44) with no significant difference between O157 and non-O157; 2% (n = 6) of cases shed for ≥100 days. Duration of shedding was reduced by 17% (95% CI 4-29) among cases reporting bloody diarrhoea. Sixteen settings underwent screening; four had secondary cases (close contacts' secondary transmission rate = 13%). Shedding duration estimates were consistent with previous studies (median 31 days, IQR 17-41). Findings do not warrant guidance changes regarding exclusion and supervised return of prolonged shedders, despite serotype changes