Clinician Violence: Virtual Reality to the Rescue?

This discussion was recorded on February 21, 2023. This transcript has been edited for clarity.

Robert D. Glatter, MD: Welcome. I'm Dr Robert Glatter, medical advisor for Medscape Emergency Medicine. Joining me today is Gilberto Salazar, MD, an emergency physician at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, to discuss a new virtual reality tool to help healthcare providers de-escalate workplace violence. Welcome, Dr Salazar. It's a pleasure to have you join us today.

Gilberto A. Salazar, MD: The pleasure is all mine, Dr Glatter. Thank you so much for having me.

Glatter: This is such an important topic, as you can imagine. Workplace violence is affecting so many providers in hospital emergency departments but also throughout other parts of the hospital.

First, can you describe how the virtual reality (VR) program was designed that you developed and what type of situations it simulates?

Salazar: We worked in conjunction with the University of Texas at DallasThey help people like me, subject matter experts in healthcare, to bring ideas to reality. I worked very closely with a group of engineers from their department in designing a module specifically designed to tackle, as you mentioned, one of our biggest threats in workplace violence.