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Abstract:
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There is a growing population of patients with a genetic recessive, chronic condition—hemophilia which is characterized by an insufficient amount of protein necessary for the blood to clot. Chronic conditions such as heart disease, obesity, hypertension and stroke account for 80% of the mortality rates in the United States and rates are significantly higher for African Americans. Estimated 2020 projections suggest that 157 billion residents in the United States will have at least one or more chronic conditions. The Institute of Medicine encourages interdisciplinary collaboration among care providers and scientists to meet the future learning needs of patients with chronic conditions. The purpose of this project was to develop a virtual environment as an educational tool about bleeding disorder education and chronic illness for nursing students, patients, families, community members and healthcare practitioners. A collaboration was formed with the Wright Patterson Air Force Base Research Lab (Tec^Edge). An interdisciplinary team of students in Nursing, Biomedical Engineering, Zoology, Computer Science and Mathematics were chosen to develop the virtual environment. An interactive virtual home was developed with an African American family with a history of hemophilia, diabetes and obesity. Cultural considerations were incorporated throughout the home. The virtual robots are programmed with responses to their respective chronic illness. The 3D tour of the blood via a ride on a red blood cell shows the normal clotting process and clotting process in person with hemophilia. In the virtual learning center, games and quizzes test the knowledge of learners. A resource room provides information for visitors and virtual meetings can be held in the meeting room where learners can connect from around the world. Future plans include expansion of the virtual environment to include other blood disorders and chronic illnesses. Empirical research is needed to test the design and effectiveness of the environment in addition to evaluate the learning outcomes and impact of the end users. |
