The Virtues of Virtual Patients
Photo/Jon Nalick
Created by USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies, “Justina,” a virtual sexual assault victim suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, uses voice recognition and natural language to interact and respond to direct questions.
Justina’s responding gestures, tone and emotion convey the virtual patient’s respective diagnosis.
“Post-traumatic stress disorder is under-diagnosed because it is difficult to elicit information from frightened patients,“ said Caroly Pataki, professor of clinical psychiatry and behavioral sciences. “The virtual patient helps medical students, residents and clinicians to practice their interviewing skills and recognize symptoms that someone might have. This is the first trial run with students on Justina.”
Funded by a Provost seed grant for Teaching With Technology, the Keck School of Medicine teamed with USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies to apply the virtual humans research and technology developed for Army training and use it to develop a program to enhance and elevate the quality of psychiatric education.
The virtual patient provides continuous feedback, guiding the student toward an optimal interview approach. Standardized patients, or actors, are typically used to teach students how to interact with patients.
“One of the many benefits of using technology over actors include the availability of virtual characters,” said Patrick Kenny, a research scientist with USC’s Institute for Creative Technologies. “Students can interact with Justina anytime and there is no limit on the amount of time a student can practice with the program.
“Virtual patients also have the capability to present different conditions and the system records every evaluation. The data can be used to assess the students in a timely manner,” Kenny said.
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USC in the News
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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