An Immersive Virtual Reality Curriculum for Pediatric Hematology Clinicians on Shared Decision-making for Hydroxyurea in Sickle Cell Anemia

Although hydroxyurea (HU) is an effective treatment for sickle cell anemia, uptake remains low. Shared decision-making (SDM) is a recommended strategy for HU initiation to elicit family preferences; however, clinicians lack SDM training. We implemented an immersive virtual reality (VR) curriculum at 8 pediatric institutions to train clinicians on SDM that included counseling virtual patients. Clinicians' self-reported confidence significantly improved following the VR simulations on all communication skills assessed, including asking open-ended questions, eliciting specific concerns, and confirming understanding (Ps <= 0.01 for all). VR may be an effective method for educating clinicians to engage in SDM for HU.