Abstract:

Healthcare professionals in their practice in hospital (and pre-hospital) settings frequently encounter potentially dangerous conflict situations as a result of frequent interactions with patients. The inherent safety not only of patients but also, and above all, of healthcare professionals is a prerequisite for the effective provision of necessary care. It is therefore important to pay attention to preparing for interactions that involve aggression, patients acting aggressively and the potential for verbal or even physical conflict.

Virtual reality is an environment that, through immersion in the action and the immersion effect, allows for effective processing of the presented perceptions in combination with the experience of the presented situation. In combination with conventional training, it is a very effective tool for further education, but also for practical training, even for situations that are dangerous, while still safe in virtual reality. This also applies to dealing with an aggressive patient.

This paper presents a prepared module aimed at training physicians and other healthcare professionals in a hospital setting in the Czech Republic, specifically in an emergency department. It presents several situations ranging from a simple dressing at work, which is important for the identification of hospital staff, through basic rules of orientation in the facility, introduction of possible risks and their elimination, de-escalation of conflict and summoning help, different types of aggressive acts directed towards the trained individual, towards another person and towards property, the situation of repeated challenges, dealing with a group of people, dealing with finding a dropped package and the actual training in the office environment in two situations, one where the trainee has somewhere to escape and the other where the trainee has nowhere to escape when interacting with an aggressive patient.

The purpose of the modules created is not only to convey basic information, but also to provide an experience, as the app aims to combine education and self-training. Although they are targeted at a specific hospital setting, they are relatively easy to implement and transferable to other settings.

Keywords:

Virtual reality, aggression, violence, training.