VR headsets to help NHS staff spot microaggressions

HEALTH workers are being invited to wear virtual reality headsets and practise empathy, inclusion and spotting microaggressions directed at staff and patients within the NHS.

South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust and Health Education England are piloting the scheme for front-line mental health staff.

The project, which is part-funded through a £89,000 grant from the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, aims to “overcome ongoing and systemic inequalities in healthcare” and uses 360-degree simulations that place participants in a realistic workplace.

In one scenario, staff are asked to judge how a manager responds to requests for more protective personal equipment from a black nurse named Tunde, compared with his white colleague Elizabeth.

“The learner is guided to identify verbal and physical signs of microaggression displayed by various characters in the simulation,” said a spokesman for the project.

In another scenario, participants are invited to “challenge their own prejudices and subconscious biases” in relation to an Indian registrar named Jasmine, who has recently returned from maternity leave and is struggling to balance work and home life with a newborn.

Organisers said the aim is to help participants empathise with the characters and emotionally connect with them to “gain a better understanding of how discrimination and microaggressions can be perpetuated in very subtle yet harmful ways”.

The simulations, which are being run by Maudsley Learning, have been built by Virti, a training company founded by Dr Alex Young, an NHS surgeon.

James Pathan, head of operations at Maudsley Learning, said the positive response had been “overwhelming”. “The immersive virtual reality training simulations enable learners to build ‘hard-to-teach’ skills such as empathy, inclusion and interpersonal awareness in a safe environment, whilst generating data-led feedback on performance.”

Previous studies have shown that black, Asian and minority ethnic patients are often treated differently in mental health settings. For example, they are more likely to be given antipsychotic drugs than white British patients and struggle to access services.

The team is hoping to roll out further simulations, including training mental health staff to handle violent or confrontational situations with patients without the use of physical restraint.