Treatment advice

has developed a new programme to be used with its Virtual Patient system to help pharmacists train in dispensing medication and provide advice on the treatment of hay fever and allergies.

The Virtual Patient system, which is used by students on the university’s pharmacy degree courses and can also be used by pharmacists in the community and clinical settings, allows people to interact with computer-generated patients to develop their communication and prescribing skills.

The new programme has been developed to explore the treatment of patients with allergic rhinitis, and the system can also be used to practice treating other conditions including dyspepsia and hypertension.

Students talk to the Virtual Patient, which appears in a 3D computer-generated environment – either a doctor’s or hospital surgery, or a pharmacy – through voice-recognition technology or by typing questions into a standard computer interface. The patient responds verbally or with a range of non-verbal gestures to indicate emotions such as pain, stress or anxiety. At the end of the session the patient gives feedback to the trainees on their performance.