NCT07409233

SOPHIE: Standardized Online Patient for Healthcare Interaction Education

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 51 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Rochester · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

This study evaluated an online simulation based educational program designed to improve clinician communication skills. Participants were clinicians and clinical trainees who completed simulated patient interactions and communication assessments as part of an educational evaluation. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either an AI based simulation training program or standard educational materials. Communication performance was assessed using standardized rating methods in simulated scenarios. The study did not involve patients or health related clinical interventions.

Detailed description

This study was a randomized educational evaluation of an AI based online simulation training program designed to support the development of clinician communication skills. Participants included clinicians and clinical trainees who routinely engage in patient communication as part of their professional roles. Participants were randomly assigned to either the SOPHIE simulation training program or a control educational condition consisting of standard instructional materials. All participants completed simulated patient encounters that were evaluated by trained standardized patients and expert raters using structured communication assessment tools. The primary outcomes of interest focused on communication skill performance in simulated scenarios as well as participant feedback on the educational experience. The study did not involve real patients clinical care or health related interventions and was conducted as an educational research project. The study was approved by the institutional review board prior to participant enrollment. It was registered retrospectively in ClinicalTrials.gov at the request of a journal during manuscript preparation.

Conditions

• Clinician Communication Skills Training

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	SOPHIE Simulation Training	An online simulation based educational training program that uses interactive virtual patient scenarios to support the development of clinician communication skills in simulated clinical encounters.
BEHAVIORAL	Control Educational Materials	Standard educational content related to clinician communication skills delivered through instructional materials such as videos and readings without interactive simulation.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-06-01
• Primary completion: 2024-12-31
• Completion: 2025-01-01
• First posted: 2026-02-13
• Last updated: 2026-02-13

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States