Solving Stigma Through POV Simulation: Enhancing Pharmacist Empathy-based Practices With Sickle Cell Disease Patients
Trial ID: NCT07217548
Status: ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Phase: NA
Start date: 2026-05-01
Completion date: 2026-07-31
Sponsor: Ohio State University
Collaborators: Howard University; Fairleigh Dickinson University; National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS)
Conditions: Stigma
Interventions: point of view simulation; Control
Locations: Ohio State University College of Pharmacy
Countries: United States
Enrollment: 200
Age range: 18 Years - None
Sex: ALL

Summary:
Why This Research Matters (Significance)

1 in 5 of the 50+ million people with chronic pain in the U.S. face stigma when using opioids, especially women and racial minorities. This stigma often comes from pharmacy staff treating chronic pain patients as drug seekers, who then refuse to fill the patient's script, and leave the patient in severe pain. The team has found that having pharmacists watch testimonial videos of sickle cell patients sharing their pain management struggles can help reduce these misconceptions. However, using point of view simulations could be even more effective in fostering empathy among pharmacists. The goal is to create an educational simulation that helps pharmacists better understand and manage pain in sickle cell patients, ultimately improving their care.

What Makes This Research Unique (Innovation) Traditional methods to address biases in healthcare include watching patient testimonials or using expensive actors to play a standardized patient interaction to health professionals. This innovative point of view simulations engage participants' empathy more effectively by playing back what participants told the patient from the patient's point of view and are more accessible by having participants interact with the simulation on the computer any time and any place, rather than organizing a paid actor to visit the hospital. With advancements in artificial intelligence, we can create interactive simulations where virtual patients respond dynamically to questions, making the experience more realistic and impactful.

How Will the Researchers Conduct the Research (Approach)

The researchers will test if point of view simulations can reduce misconceptions among healthcare professionals and improve pain management for sickle cell patients. Here's the plan:

1. Create and Implement the Simulation: Use it as part of the training for pharmacy and hospital staff, as well as nursing and pharmacy students.
2. Survey Participants: Before and after the simulation, participants will take a survey to measure their misconceptions about opioid use.
3. Follow-Up: Six months later, researchers will survey the participants' patients and their managers to see if there's been an improvement in the empathetic care the participants provided.

Eligibility criteria:
Inclusion Criteria:

* Practicing healthcare professional OR student in a healthcare professional program
* Ability to fill opioid prescriptions

Exclusion Criteria:

* Not currently practicing or rotating in a clinical setting that fills opioid prescriptions

Outcomes:
Agreement/disagreement toward opioid use misconceptions; Frequency of empathy-based care practices when filling opioid prescriptions