CULTIVATE

In the United States, racial biases have been tied to poor health outcomes and difficulties accessing healthcare. There is growing evidence that structural racism is linked to the uneven experience of illness and early death experienced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities. In healthcare settings, structural racism affects BIPOC patients’ experiences navigating and accessing healthcare, and it also impacts the quality of the care they receive. The quality of provider communication, whether the provider centers the patients’ perspective in decisions regarding their care, whether the provider recommends and makes referrals for specific tests and procedures; are factors that may be impacted by structural racism.The researchers conducting this study want to find out if virtual reality can be used in medical education to help dismantle structural racism. The project aims to develop virtual reality scenarios that put healthcare providers in the shoes of BIPOC patients navigating the healthcare system. Researchers want to determine if the changes in medical education enhanced by new technology, like virtual reality, will improve health access and health outcomes for BIPOC communities.CULTIVATE (Combating Unequal Treatment in Healthcare Through Virtual Awareness and Training in Empathy) will use VR to deliver diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) training to healthcare providers. CULTIVATE will put non-BIPOC healthcare providers in their Black and Latinx patients’ shoes using VR-based training scenarios simulating BIPOC patients’ experience accessing healthcare. This project aims to understand if changes in medical education enhanced by VR will improve health access and health outcomes of BIPOC people.