Upskilling Malaysian Healthcare for Empathy and Communication through Virtual Reality

Healthcare professionals require strong communication and empathy skills, especially when interacting with vulnerable patients or working in highly-stressful situations.

The UM-HEART-VT project addresses the fragmented and inconsistent training of essential communication and empathy skills for healthcare professionals in Malaysia by introducing VR-based empathy and communication training aligned with EU and international standards.

Responding to the Erasmus call for Digital Transformation in higher education, the project will support three Malaysian healthcare schools in adopting this VR technology, offering an immersive, scalable, and culturally adaptable environment for practice-based learning, allowing students to safely handle challenging clinical situations.

By collaborating with EU partners experienced in VR platforms, the initiative will transfer knowledge and skills to modernize Malaysia’s digital health curricula.