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EDITORIAL: Trading Places: Simulators Help Doctors Experience What It's Like to Be the Patient

Posted on: Monday, 24 April 2006, 12:00 CDT

By The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

Apr. 24--In an era when the practice of medicine has become somewhat impersonal and doctors might spend too little time with each patient, doctors need to be able to put themselves in their patients' shoes.

Patient advocates, university researchers and even drug manufacturers are trying to help by designing illness simulators for use by doctors and other caregivers to give them a dramatic picture of what patients are going through.

Cardiologists, for example, can use the Heart FX Pod to simulate the struggle of a walk in the park for someone suffering from heart failure. Pedals offer resistance to the legs and a vest tightens around the chest to mimic the appropriate symptoms. One cardiologist said in a story on the Web site NewScientist.com that the simulation altered his view of how patients feel.

"What we think of as mild heart failure is disabling," he noted.

Virtual-reality simulators also recreate the symptoms of glaucoma, macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and stroke. Many such simulators are expensive and high-tech, but some are neither. One, the Virtual Dementia Tour Kit, contains a pair of distorting goggles and a recording of confusing sounds.

A few years ago, the movie A Beautiful Mind gave audiences a powerful insight into the psyche of someone suffering from schizophrenia. The movie was widely acclaimed for helping people to understand the plight of the mentally ill.

In a similar way, these simulations can help caregivers -- doctors, nurses, nursing-home workers and others -- better understand what patients need, why patients react the way they do and what can be done to improve treatment. The devices also can help doctors diagnose diseases sooner.

Although the benefits of such simulations have not been measured scientifically, common sense suggests that a doctor who has suffered from heart disease or has been through the heartdisease simulator is going to be better able to help patients suffering the same affliction.

Yes, drug companies might have something to gain in developing these simulations. Early treatment of many diseases often involves medications. But as long as the simulation has been independently verified as accurate and the medication used for treatment is legitimate, no one should object to drug-company sponsorships of these devices.

At the very least, simulations should help strengthen the doctor-patient relationship, and that's a plus for health care.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Columbus Dispatch, Ohio

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