Immersive Mixed Reality Simulation to Evoke Empathy

NCT ID: NCT06351397

Last Updated: 2026-01-21

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 81 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2025-01-24
• Study Completion Date: 2025-10-08

Brief Summary

This is a quantifiable study evaluating the ability of a mixed reality (MR), immersive simulation experience to evoke empathy in anesthesiology trainees. Quantitative methodologies will be employed using standardized questionnaires including the The Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy for Health Professions Students, (HP-version). Trainees will assess their preliminary, baseline empathy using the Jefferson Scale and after the simulation and debrief, will reassess empathy scores, once again using the Jefferson Scale. A satisfaction survey to assess simulated patient embodiment as a valuable exercise and contributor to empathy education curriculum.

Conditions

Educational Problems

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: SUPPORTIVE_CARE
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Mixed Reality Group

In the MR group, the simulation instructor will explain the scope of the simulation embodiment experience and equip a weighted vest on the participant as they are asked to lay on a hospital patient gurney, seated upright. The participant, who is wearing a weighted vest to simulate an anterior mediastinal mass, will be asked to be seated upright and will view various holograms including vitals monitors, hear hospital related sounds via the headset, and also see additional holographic assets including intravenous polls and a defibrillator as well as experience heat (simulating a fever) from heat lamps. The simulation instructor will play the role of a physician who is using good communication skills based on the Calgary-Cambridge Guide to review a scripted consent for a high risk biopsy under sedation that may require life saving interventions such as extracorporeal membranous oxygenation (ECMO).

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Mixed Reality (MR)

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Mixed Reality simulation of medical crisis scenarios.

MR headset - a device that the participants will wear over their head and eyes and will add holographic elements to a live view of workplace training scenario

Control

In the control group, there will be no headset, no heat lamps, and no weighted vest and the participant will rely on their imagination to embody the teenager while lying in the simulation room bed while being consented for the same procedure as the MR group.

Group Type: ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Control

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Tradition simulation of medical crisis scenarios.

Interventions

Mixed Reality (MR)

Mixed Reality simulation of medical crisis scenarios.

MR headset - a device that the participants will wear over their head and eyes and will add holographic elements to a live view of workplace training scenario

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Control

Tradition simulation of medical crisis scenarios.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Trainees or personnel working and/or volunteering at Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford / Stanford Health Care facilities
• 18 years and older

Exclusion Criteria

• a history of severe motion sickness
• currently have nausea
• have a history of seizures
• are uncomfortable wearing a ~7 pound weighted vest.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 99 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: Yes

Sponsors

Stanford University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Thomas Caruso

Clinical Professor

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford

Palo Alto, California, United States

Countries

United States

Other Identifiers

75021

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id