UNE’s Marilyn Gugliucci discusses virtual reality in health education on Los Angeles radio station

Marilyn R. Gugliucci, Ph.D., professor and director of Geriatrics Education and Research in UNE’s College of Osteopathic Medicine, was recently a guest by phone on the program AirTalk on Los Angeles, California radio station ‘KPCC’ for a discussion on how virtual reality (VR) is being used in the context of medicine.

The program focused on how students see through the eyes of their patients as a result of VR training.

“Students that are in the health professions often times really respond to experiential learning a lot better than through passive lectures,” Gugliucci told host Larry Mantle. “They like to be hands-on.”

UNE students are currently using a virtual reality simulation program called “Clay.”  When they put the program’s headset on they become a 66-year-old veteran named Clay, who is diagnosed with a terminal illness. Students then experience the end-of-life in three stages.

“If we can get our students to be more empathic about some of the conditions that older adults are going through, and we do that through virtual reality, then at least we are raising awareness and hopefully opening their hearts,” Gugliucci said on the program.

Gugliucci says the VR Clay Lab really helps students understand what the patient is going through much better than a classroom lecture or reading about it in a book.