User Evaluation of a Virtual Patient for Philippine Medical Education

Abstract

Caladrius is a virtual patient system designed for use in Philippine medical schools. It responds to the need for medical interview training, for greater variety in teaching-learning strategies, and for culturally appropriate technologies. It has two versions: a text-only version whose interface is similar to a chatbox, and an audio version that accepts speech input and responds with speech output. In a prior test of Caladrius, users requested improved audio response time and the inclusion of different patient personalities. A subsequent version of Caladrius was created to comply with these requests. As much of the lag was attributable to the need for Internet connectivity, we attempted to use offline speech-to-text and text-to-speech models for local processing. We also provided three possible personalities: neutral, talkative, and aggressive. We conducted a user test to determine whether the offline version of Caladrius had better performance and if the personalities were distinct. The test with the offline version was unsuccessful as the model was unable to recognize the test participant’s speech accurately. The personalities were distinct but the aggressive personality was more subtle and difficult to trigger. The paper ends with plans for continuing development.