Doctor Bias Simulator

September 3, 2008

Racial bias apparently extends to the virtual world as well as the real one. That’s what University of Florida engineers discovered in developing a new virtual reality simulator. Professor Benjamin Lok and his team built a system that allows medical students to interact with patients.

Lok: “One of the first questions to applying virtual reality to address cultural competence is to say ‘is there any relationship between the virtual world to the real world?’ So, we haven’t discovered a new bias. What we have shown is if you are biased in the real world, that does transfer to the virtual world and that does give us a lot of promise because you can practice in the virtual world over and over.”

The study, co-authored by doctors from the Medical College of Georgia, shows that white medical students showed less empathy toward dark-skinned virtual patients than white ones.

Lok: “We are creating a tool that can look at subconscious bias, some of the things that you might not be aware of. I think that’s what these students were surprised about. ‘Wow, even with some pixels on a screen, I can see some things I was doing differently.’ ”

Some medical schools hire actors for role-playing scenarios with students. Experts say the simulator could offer more chances for young doctors to practice overcoming bias in pixels and people.