A System to Detect Unconscious Bias Using Virtual Patients: Concept of Operations

Unconscious bias training promotes workplace diversity, safety, and respect by helping individuals identify, manage, and lessen their biases. Recently, simulation-based training has gained traction among healthcare professionals for its effectiveness in mimicking real-world situations, allowing for mistakes, learning opportunities, reflection, feedback, and enhancing clinical skills while ensuring patient safety remains intact. However, immersive technology simulations have limitations, such as latency and misjudgment of spatial awareness. This research presents the Concept of Operations, identifies key stakeholders, outlines their needs, and details the system requirements to deploy virtual patients to trigger unconscious biases in medical personnel. This document represents the second installment in a series of five research papers dedicated to designing a system that elicits unconscious biases in medical students through virtual patient interactions.