Research Project Description:

Empathy is key to effective communication between patients and health care practitioners and has been shown to positively affect health outcomes and patient satisfaction as well as to improve patient safety. Communicating with patients is the most frequent practice by health care providers, however communications skills training in undergraduate health care programmes is variable and assessment of interpersonal competencies is often neither reliable nor consistent. Empathetic communication is also very important for patients receiving home care. It is therefore important to enhance empathetic communication in curricula for undergraduate health care programmes and for Vocational Educational and Training (VET) home care programmes. In addition, it is crucial that new technologies are introduced in teaching in order to build new competencies. Virtual Reality (VR) is currently applied in many fields of healthcare education including clinical and interpersonal skills training. EmpathyInHealth activities will include the development of empathetic skills curriculum that will be based on current research evidence and patient participation, and use of this curriculum to create high acuity virtual scenarios. These scenarios will provide a consistent clinical communication experience, enhance empathetic competence in future healthcare workers and carers.

The aims of the project are to:

  1. Develop an empathetic skills curriculum and materials, certified with ISO that will be based on current research evidence and patient participation through their own personal experiences, ideas and expectations (for VET and HE).
  2. Use this curriculum to develop high acuity virtual scenarios in the areas of empathetic communication which will (a) provide a consistent clinical communication experience, (b) enhance student confidence in developing new skills by allowing them to practice in a safe environment and(c) provide student feedback on areas of strength and further improvement
  3. Develop VR videos and educational videos (Sector specific) to develop the empathetic competence
  4. Support tutors and trainers to integrate VR in their teaching /training through the development of their skills as far as virtual reality is concerned.

Principal Investigator(s) and Coordinating Institution(s):

  • MMC Management Center, Cyprus

 Researchers at University of Nicosia Medical School:

  • Prof Alexia Papageorgiou
  • Dr Constantina Constantinou

UNIC Participating Institution:

  • University of Nicosia Medical School

Other Participating Institution(s):

  • Cyprus (Cyprus Certification Company)
  • Belgium (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)
  • Germany (Evangelische Hochschule Berlin)
  • Greece (University of Thessaly)
  • Greece (OmegaTech)

Research Project Acronym: EMPATHY IN HEALTH

Funding Agency: Erasmus+

Funding Programme: KA2: Strategic Partnerships

Total Research Project Budget: €338,318

Research Project Status: Completed

Start and End Dates: 01 September 2019 – 31 August 2022

Funding Programme or Research Project Logo:

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