HTC's Medical VR team, focused on developing a global medical VR ecosystem, announced today (March 3) that it has signed a letter of intent with Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital and Tzu Chi University. The two teams will jointly promote the use of artificial intelligence (AI) virtual humans in healthcare and education, establishing a generative AI virtual patient database to enhance innovative teaching.
This collaboration will integrate disease diagnosis and treatment, interdisciplinary training, and team collaboration, using technology to implement personalized, gamified, and contextualized learning. It will effectively promote the application of innovative technologies in hospitals and schools, and enhance teaching quality and learning outcomes.
Bao Yongzhe, Senior Vice President of HTC VIVE Enterprise Solutions, said, "HTC continues to promote the application of AI and virtual reality technologies in medical education. Through our collaboration with Tzu Chi Hospital and Tzu Chi University, we are implementing a generative AI platform to provide an intelligent, personalized training environment, allowing medical students and healthcare professionals to improve their clinical decision-making and doctor-patient communication skills in a safe, simulated environment. We look forward to this collaboration bringing further breakthroughs to medical education and promoting digital transformation."
This collaboration will leverage HTC's Artificial Intelligence Virtual Patient Lesson Plan Development Platform to develop a teaching model that adheres to key concepts in modern medical education: CBME (Competency-Based Medical Education) and EPAs (Entrustable Professional Activities). This approach will effectively enhance medical students' clinical competence and ensure their readiness for independent practice.
This platform allows clinical instructors, without a programming background, to quickly create virtual patient cases in minutes, enabling medical students and residents to conduct simulation training in a safe environment. The database encompasses multidisciplinary cases and will continue to expand, creating a smart learning platform that adapts to the needs of future medical education.
Professor Chen Zongying, Vice President of Tzu Chi University, a member of the Tzu Chi School Foundation, said, "Medical education is not only about cultivating professional skills but also carries a respect and care for life. We are collaborating with HTC to use artificial intelligence virtual patient technology to provide medical students and clinicians with a more immersive learning environment, allowing them to experience the patient's situation during simulated diagnosis and treatment, cultivating empathy and doctor-patient communication skills. We believe that the integration of technology and the humanities will make medical education more comprehensive, further improve the quality of healthcare, and benefit more patients."
Building on the success of last year's "Generative AI Holistic Care Workshop," this year's workshop further expanded and enriched the AI virtual patient database. Over 10 clinical faculty from over ten departments, including Radiology, Nursing, Internal Medicine, Surgery, Emergency Medicine, Pathology, Psychiatry, and Rehabilitation Technology, participated in the development of cross-disciplinary lesson plans covering pain assessment, abdominal pain history taking, nursing handover training, renal health education, dialysis arteriovenous catheter anomalies, and emergency care.
Wu Bin'an, Vice President of Hualien Tzu Chi Hospital, shared, "Tzu Chi Hospital and Tzu Chi University have long been committed to promoting innovation in medical education. This collaboration with HTC integrates artificial intelligence virtual patient technology into teaching, providing students with more opportunities for real-world clinical practice, strengthening their decision-making skills and integrating cross-disciplinary learning. The application of this technology will enhance the quality of clinical training and help medical professionals develop stronger clinical judgment and adaptability when facing real patients."
Through HTC's "Artificial Intelligence Virtual Patient Lesson Plan Creation Platform," teachers can customize generative AI scoring criteria to assess students' key competencies, including clinical skills, interview techniques, doctor-patient communication, and empathy. Workshop statistics show that all participating teachers achieved 100% satisfaction with the platform's user experience, and over 95% of participants expressed a desire to continue using this technology in their future teaching.
