Collaborative Research: FW-HTF-P: The Future of Geriatric Care: Immersive Virtual Patient Training for Nursing Assistants

目前，辅助生活和养老院存在人员短缺问题，新冠肺炎更是加剧了这一问题。注册护士助理(CNA)在为老年人提供护理方面发挥着重要作用，但培训不足、工资低以及对他们身体和情感需求的支持不足会影响他们对与老年人合作的态度，并限制他们护理的有效性。虽然公共和私人组织提供护理助理培训，但许多组织并没有特别强调对老年人口的态度如何影响护理。拟议的培训将使CNA接触到与虚拟老年患者的现实互动，以促进长期护理环境或医院的医护人员之间的积极态度、看法和有效沟通。改善沟通和培养积极态度的培训对医护人员的经验和患者的福祉都很重要。该项目将使现有和未来的工作人员获得专业学习机会，以提高工作人员和患者的生活质量。研究人员提议开发一种针对虚拟患者的增强现实/虚拟现实(AR/VR)培训，在屏幕或头戴式显示器上使用三维图形以数字方式表示患者，即老年人。CNAS将接受采访，以确定工人的需求和工作场所的挑战。来自中央通讯社采访的数据将用于向新一代类似人类的虚拟患者(即具有类似人类的身体和动画、能够感知他们的周围环境和对话并在身临其境的环境中显示的3D计算机图形模型)提供信息，以开发相关的沟通和态度培训。CNAS将在反复接触中照顾一名虚拟老年患者，以模拟和练习现实生活中的互动。虚拟患者记住对话并意识到周围环境，这增加了互动与现实的相似性。研究将评估该技术的可行性和可用性，以及CNA的态度和看法。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

There is currently a staff shortage in assisted living and nursing homes, a shortage exacerbated by COVID-19. Certified Nursing Assistants (CNAs) play a significant role in providing care for older adults, but insufficient training, poor pay, and inadequate support for their physical and emotional needs can affect their attitudes toward working with older adults and limit the effectiveness of their caregiving. Although public and private organizations provide nursing assistant training, many do not specifically emphasize how attitudes towards the geriatric population can affect care. The proposed training will expose CNAs to a realistic interaction with a virtual geriatric patient in order to facilitate positive attitudes, perceptions, and effective communication among healthcare workers in long-term care settings or hospitals. Training that improves communication and fosters positive attitudes is important to both the experience of healthcare workers and the well-being of patients. This project will enable existing and future workers to engage in professional learning opportunities to improve quality of life for both workers and patients.The investigators propose to develop an Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) training with virtual patients where the patient, an older adult, is represented digitally using 3 dimensional graphics on a screen or head mounted display. CNAs will be interviewed to identify workers’ needs and workplace challenges. The data from the CNA interviews will be used to inform a new generation of human-like virtual patients (i.e., 3D computer graphics models that have a human-like body and animations, are aware of their surroundings and conversations, and are displayed in an immersive environment) in order to develop relevant communications and attitudes training. CNAs will care for a virtual geriatric patient in repeated encounters to simulate and practice real-life interactions. The virtual patient remembers the conversations and is aware of its surroundings, which increases the interaction’s similarity to reality. Research will assess the feasibility and usability of the technology, as well as CNA’s attitudes and perceptions.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.