Figure 1 Role-player Eden Bray just found out she is HIV positive

Figure 2 Role-player Henry Douglas has been considering ending his life

Figure 3 Role-player Gabe Turner is at risk for alcohol dependent.

SIMmersion’s virtual role-players are used to help provide equitable healthcare to the nation’s 30 million people in underserved communities.

COLUMBIA, MD, UNITED STATES, October 6, 2023 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)

HRSA provides equitable health care to the nation’s highest-need people, most often those with low incomes. They may be children, pregnant, considering suicide, HIV positive, had transplants, or need gender affirmative care. Many of these people live in rural communities where the few providers must be prepared to treat a variety of conditions rather than make referrals. To help meet the need for providers, HRSA helps to support 24,000 healthcare professionals.

Shortage of Mental Health Providers

Well-trained providers are needed to help the 30,000,000 people served by HRSA. The current shortage of mental-health providers presents a particularly difficult challenge. According to the American Psychological Association, “the increased need for mental health care is straining the capacity. … The demand for mental health treatment has continued to increase as many psychologists report they no longer have the capacity to see new patients.” The shortage disproportionately affects those served by HRSA.

Addressing the Provider Shortage

The National Institute of Mental Health has identified important provider-training needs and has funded SIMmersion to develop a series of virtual role-players to support the mental health community. These role-players are easy-to-access anywhere and provide realistic experiences with feedback. HRSA grants are currently being used to support provider training with SIMmersion role-players.

Virtual Role-Players

There are many programs available for training medical procedures and most require the provider to learn and practice applying standard procedures. However, behavioral health training presents more of a challenge, as the hard-to-learn procedures involve special conversational techniques and skills where it is difficult to get sufficient practice.

SIMmersion’s virtual role-players provide the opportunity to practice difficult behavioral-health communications including:

• Suicide Prevention (https://www.simmersion.com/suicideprevention),
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (https://www.simmersion.com/trainingcbt),
• Motivational Interviewing (https://www.simmersion.com/mi),
• Brief Alcohol Intervention https://www.simmersion.com/briefmi),
• Gender Affirmative Therapy (https://www.simmersion.com/genderaffirmativetherapy).

Training with these systems has advantages:
• Providers learn from the research and experiences of the leaders in the relevant field.
• Unlike on-the-job learning, no harm can be done when training with virtual role-players.
• On-going feedback accelerates learning as compared to on-the-job experiences, so training requires less time to reach proficiency.
• Asynchronous learning lets providers undertake the training on their own schedule and does not require consistent real-time interactions with an instructor.
• The training is easy to access and is available everywhere there is an internet connection.
• The realistic experiences with SIMmersion’s virtual role-players can feel like a real experience and has been shown in research studies to provide lasting skills.
• Administrators can track training progress using SIMmersion’s learning management system.

Conclusion

HRSA grantees can now use SIMmersion role-players to help train new providers and to update and sharpen the skills of current ones.

Dale Edward Olsen
SIMmersion
+1 4437455754
email us here

SIMmersion Training System Overview

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