Can a virtual patient help health care providers to improve their communication skills? Julia van Weert will discuss this during the Workshop Artificial Intelligence and Conversational Agents at the TU Delft on January 24 and 25.

She will present the results of one of the projects from the Digital Communication Methods Lab in which virtual patients (VPs) were integrated in an interactive VP-based learning module, aiming to enhance shared decision making (SDM) skills in oncology.

Based on computational models of data obtained from previous studies on SDM in oncology, the VP provided the trainees (in this study medical students) the illusion of being engaged in a free speech natural dialogue as part of a SDM consultation. Results indicate that using a VP has potential as an effective learning tool for communication skills training.