Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Mar 31, 2023
Date Accepted: May 31, 2023
Artificial Intelligence Versus Human-controlled Doctor in Virtual Reality Simulation for Sepsis Team Training: A Randomized Controlled Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Interprofessional communication is needed to enhance the early recognition and management of patients with sepsis. Preparing medical and nursing students using virtual reality simulation has been shown to be an effective learning approach for sepsis team training. However, its scalability is constrained by unequal cohort sizes between medical and nursing students. An artificial intelligence (AI) medical team member can be implemented in a virtual reality simulation to engage nursing students in sepsis team training.
Objective:
This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of an AI-powered doctor versus human-controlled doctor regarding training nursing students for sepsis care and interprofessional communication.
Methods:
A randomized controlled trial study was conducted with 64 nursing students who were randomly assigned to undertake sepsis team training with an AI-powered doctor (AI-powered group) or with medical students using virtual reality simulation (human-controlled group). Participants from both groups were tested on their sepsis and communication performance through simulation-based assessments. Participants’ sepsis knowledge and self-efficacy in interprofessional communication were evaluated before and after the study interventions.
Results:
Although no significant differences were found in sepsis care performance between groups (P=.39), the AI-powered group had statistically significantly higher sepsis post-test knowledge scores (P=.009) than the human-controlled group. No significant differences were found in interprofessional communication performance (P=.21) between the two groups. However, the human-controlled group reported a significantly higher level of self-efficacy in interprofessional communication (P=.008) than the AI-powered group.
Conclusions:
Our study suggests that AI-powered doctors are not inferior to human-controlled virtual reality simulations with respect to sepsis care and interprofessional communication performance, which supports the viability of implementing AI-powered doctors to achieve scalability in sepsis team training. Our findings also suggest that future innovations should focus on the sociability of AI-powered doctors to enhance users’ interprofessional communication training. Perhaps in the nearer term, future studies should examine how to best blend AI-powered training with human-controlled virtual reality simulation to optimize clinical performance in sepsis care and interprofessional communication.
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