3D technology to train chemists

Pharmacists, traditionally called 'chemists' play a much more important role in healthcare than simply dispensing medicines and selling shampoo.

They work in hospitals helping to ensure that doctors and nurses provide patients with the correct medicines.

Increasingly they provide health advice and services on the high street -- taking blood pressure and answering a huge range of questions about health and medication.

These highly trained health professionals need to have very good communication skills.

So an important part of their training is about learning how to communicate well with colleagues and with members of the public, but it's not easy recruiting a room full of patients to help student pharmacists practice their skills. And practice makes perfect.

So Keele University's School of Pharmacy has developed a high-tech way of bringing patients into the classroom for trainees to hone their communication skills. It's developed virtual patients -- computer based characters called avatars, just like those in a computer games.

Professor Stephen Chapman's team of developers have come up with a programme that can respond to students' questions just like real people.

The software means that the pharmacy school provides trainees with tests that can be repeated over and over again before taking an assessment and boosting the quality of their education.

"We're mimicking a real life conversation," Stephen says. "The avatar doesn't guide you and it doesn't tell you if you get things wrong.

"The student gets feedback saying what it's got right and what it's got wrong when talking to the patient."

Category:

Education

Tags:

• NHS
• local
• West
• Midlands
• virtual
• patients
• innovative
• technology
• pharmacy
• Keele
• University
• School
• of
• Pharmacy