A Call to Action: Maine’s Colleges and Universities Respond to an Aging Population

Jeffrey E. Hecker and Marilyn R. Gugliucci report on the findings of the Higher Education Workgroup, which is part of the Maine Aging Initiative. They present summary information on aging-related research, gerontology/geriatrics educational curricula, and educational opportunities for older adults including retooling for employment

We Are Alfred: Empathy Learned Through A Medical Education Virtual Reality Project

Poster describing project collaboration among University of New England (UNE) librarians and College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) faculty, whose goal was to adopt technology which will teach UNECOM students to be empathic with older adults and familiarize medical students with information resources from the NIH/NLM related to older adult health. Technology tested was the Alfred Lab developed by Embodied Labs. First year medical students were required to complete the ‘We Are Alfred’ virtual reality module and a pre and post assessment. Descriptive statistics were applied to finite questions on pre and post assessments, and content analysis on open ended answers. Virtual reality was deemed a successful medical education learning tool enhancing empathy for these medical students.https://dune.une.edu/libserv_facpost/1001/thumbnail.jp

Hospice Home Immersion Project: Advancing Medical Education

The University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine (UNECOM) Hospice Immersion project was piloted in 2014 in southern Maine. It was designed and implemented as an experiential medical education learning model whereby medical students were “admitted” into the local Hospice Home to live there for 48 hours. Until this project, palliative and end of life care education at US Medical Schools and specifically UNECOM were accomplished through traditional medical education methods. The Hospice Immersion project utilizes qualitative ethnographic and autobiographic research designs, whereby a unique environment or “culture” (Hospice Home) is observed and life experiences of the medical student before, during, and immediately after the immersion are reported by him/her. The purpose of the Hospice Immersion project is to provide second year medical students with firsthand experiences of living in the Hospice Home for 48 hours to answer the question: “What it is like FOR ME to live in the Hospice Home?” The results focus on the students’ common themes that include 1) Unknown Territory; 2) Support; 3) Role of Staff; 4) Role of Immersion Learning in Palliative and End of Life Care; 5) Facing Death and Dying; and 6) Clinical Pearls. This project humanizes dying and death, solidified student realization that dying is a part of life and what an honor it is to be a part of the care process that alleviates pain, increases comfort, values communication, and human connections. Students report new found skills in patient care such as the 1) importance of physical touch; 2) significance of communication at the end of life for the patient, family, and staff; 3) the value of authenticity and sincerity that comes from being comfortable with oneself, which allows silence to communicate caring; 4) connection with and awareness of the person (rather than their terminal illness) and their family; and 5) the importance of speaking with patients and their families about end of life plans in advance. Although this is a time intensive experience for the faculty member and the Hospice Home staff, the depth of learning experienced by the students and opportunities to advance medical education in death and dying are well worth the efforts

Learning By Living: Empathy Learned Through An Extended Medical Education Immersion Project

Introduction: Medical student training and experiences in nursing homes are often viewed as negative; however, long-term care services represent a growing aspect of our medical system that receives little attention in medical education. The University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine Learning by Living Nursing Home Immersion Project accelerates students learning about older adult care and the importance of empathy. Methods: Learning by Living applies qualitative ethnographic/autobiographic research methods to answer the question: “What is it like for me to live the life of an older adult nursing home resident?” Two first year medical students (female, 25 y/o & male, 27 y/o) were “admitted” into two different nursing homes for 11 days each. The students were wheelchair reliant from their assigned diagnoses of dominant-side paralysis secondary to stroke and aspiration pneumonia; requiring standard procedures of care experienced by older adults residents with similar conditions. Data were collected in the form of journal notes for pre-fieldwork, fieldwork, and post-fieldwork and included subjective and objective reporting of observations, experiences, and resident encounters. Analyses included journal review and thematic categorization and coding through content analysis. Results: Four themes of significance intersected for the two medical students: 1) control; 2) quality of life; 3) communication; and 4) isolation. Being immersed in nursing home life provided the students with firsthand experiences of loss and challenges faced by nursing home residents. This aided students’ learning about empathy and communication as key components of providing health care. Conclusion: This experience imparted knowledge to the medical students’ about aging, dignity, and the importance of making meaningful connections in order to thrive. These insights provided a gateway to establish a model of patient-centered care that is comprehensive and empathic for the older adult population

Empathy Learned Through An Extended Medical Education Virtual Reality Project

Studies have suggested that empathy in healthcare professionals tends to erode during medical school and residency training. However, a study conducted by Hofat presents outcomes that reveals the opposite effect; instead empathy improves or there is no effect on empathy at all. Despite the contradictory studies, it is generally agreed that empathy is an important aspect in the patient-physician relationship as it is associated with improved patient satisfaction, increased adherence to treatment, and fewer malpractice complaints. This research exposed 346 first year medical students to virtual reality (VR) technology that is intended to elicit empathy for a 74-year-old African American male, Alfred, whom each student embodied to experience what it is like to have macular degeneration and hearing loss. Specifically, pre/post test responses to embodying Alfred were analyzed to determine empathic changes. The VR software, developed by Embodied Labs, Inc., is specifically designed to affect health professions students and staff empathy responses. Results yielded statically significant changes between pre and post assessment across both cohorts of the Alfred Lab.https://dune.une.edu/com_studpost/1002/thumbnail.jp

Older Adult Health: National Library Of Medicine Resources For Health Care Providers And For Patients And Families

This list of resources was designed to complement a project funded by the National Network of Libraries of Medicine (NN/LM) New England Region (NER) entitled “Empathy Learned Through an Extended Medical Education Virtual Reality Project. The project used a virtual reality (VR) experience for 1st year medical students developed by Embodied Labs. The interactive “Alfred Lab” immerses users in the story of a 74-year-old patient who has macular degeneration and hearing loss, allowing users to experience these conditions from the patient’s perspective as he interacts with his family and doctor

Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, & Health

There are plenty of new and emerging technologies that are revolutionizing the health sciences. These webinars explore the applications of reality technologies including augmented reality, virtual reality, multi-reality, mixed reality, and more! From hands-on training, to human simulation software, there is a lot for us to learn about health and technology. Join us for an exploration of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) technologies, with special attention given to their significance in the health sciences. Also learn how you can start and fund your own AR or VR health sciences project with NNLM Technology funding opportunities. This webinar is appropriate for everyone, regardless of how much you know about augmented or virtual reality. Speakers include: Zeb Mathews – University of Tennessee Health Science CenterCorina Bustillos – Texas Tech University Health Sciences CenterAllison Herrera – University of Massachusetts Medical SchoolMarilyn Gugliucci - University of New England Outline:AR and VR - Introduction & OverviewAugmented Reality & HealthVirtual Reality & HealthTechnology Funding OpportunitiesUniversity of New England VR Projec

Using virtual reality in medical education to teach empathy

Objective: The project adopted technology that teaches medical and other health professions students to be empathic with older adults, through virtual reality (VR) software that allows them to simulate being a patient with age-related diseases, and to familiarize medical students with information resources related to the health of older adults. Methods: The project uses an application that creates immersive VR experiences for training of the workforce for aging services. Users experience age-related conditions such as macular degeneration and high-frequency hearing loss from the patient’s perspective. Librarians and faculty partner to integrate the experience into the curriculum, and students go to the library at their convenience to do the VR assignment. Results: The project successfully introduced an innovative new teaching modality to the medical, physician assistant, physical therapy, and nursing curricula. Results show that VR enhanced students’ understanding of age-related health problems and increased their empathy for older adults with vision and hearing loss or Alzheimer’s disease. Conclusion: VR immersion training is an effective teaching method to help medical and health professions students develop empathy and is a budding area for library partnerships. As the technology becomes more affordable and accessible, it is important to develop best practices for using VR in the library. This article was selected by the Virtual Projects Advisory Committee of technology experts after an annual call for projects in MLA-FOCUS and announcements to encourage submissions from all types of libraries