Virtual Reality for Developing Patient-Facing Communication Skills in Medical and Graduate Education: Protocol for a Scoping Review

Background: Clinician-patient communication is an integral component in providing quality medical care. However, research on clinician-patient communication has shown overall patient discontent with provider communication skills. While virtual reality (VR) is readily used for procedural-based learning in medical education, its potential for teaching patient-facing communication skills remains unexplored. This scoping review aims to evaluate the effectiveness and feasibility of VR applications used for patient-facing communication skills development in medical education. Objective: The primary objective is to synthesize and evaluate the effectiveness of available VR tools and applications used for patient-facing communication skills development in medical education. The secondary objectives are to (1) assess the feasibility of adapting VR applications to develop patient-facing communication skills in medical education and (2) provide an overview of the challenges associated with adapting VR applications to develop patient-facing communication skills in medical education. Methods: A total of 4 electronic databases (ERIC, Embase, PubMed, and MEDLINE) were searched for primary peer-reviewed articles published through April 11, 2023. Articles evaluating the implementation of non-, semi-, and fully immersive VR training for patient- or caregiver-facing communication skills training provided to graduate, medical, or other allied health care professions students were included. Studies that assessed augmented reality, mixed reality, artificial intelligence, or VR for non-communication-based training were excluded. Study selection will include a title, abstract, and full-text screening by 4 authors. Data from eligible studies will be extracted and entered into a database and presented in tabular format. Findings will be reported according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines for scoping reviews. Results: As of April 11, 2023, the search strategy has been confirmed and the search has been completed. We are currently at the title and abstract screening stage. Once complete, the articles will undergo full-text screening according to eligibility criteria Conclusions: The findings of this review will inform the development of a graduate-level clinical skills research course within the Institute of Medical Science graduate department at the University of Toronto. It is also expected that these findings will be of interest to other health care-specific faculties inside and beyond our institution. Further, our scoping review will summarize the limited field of literature on VR use in medical communications training and identify areas for future inquiry.