Artificial Intelligence-driven Virtual Standardized Pediatric Patients Trial

Background: China's healthcare system for children faces significant challenges,particularly due to the limited pediatric service capacity of primary healthcareinstitutions. A shortage of effective and accessible training tools for primary caredoctors further hinders progress in addressing this gap. Technological advancements,especially in artificial intelligence, offer a potential solution to improve pediatriccare. Artificial intelligence‐driven virtual standardized patients (VSPs), leveraginginternet and virtual simulation technologies, simulate clinical cases with specificdisease characteristics, providing an innovative, efficient, and flexible trainingmethod. VSPs are increasingly utilized in medical education, clinical reasoning, andlicensure exams. This study focuses on using VSPs to improve the management of commonpediatric conditions, which are major health concerns for children and impose significantpsychological and financial burdens on families.Methods: This study will involve a three‐arm randomized controlled trial to evaluate theeffectiveness of a virtual pediatric standardized patient platform in enhancing primarycare doctors' management of common pediatric diseases. At least 459 participants,including general practitioners, internal medicine practitioners, surgeons, andpediatricians from more than 10 provinces across China, will be randomly assigned to oneof three groups: the virtual patient platform group, the case teaching manual group, orthe case teaching video group. Five virtual patient cases covering pneumococcalpneumonia, rotavirus enteritis with hypovolemic shock, hand‐foot‐and‐mouth disease, acuteappendicitis, and respiratory failure will be developed, along with corresponding caseteaching materials. After a two‐week learning period, participants' disease managementabilities will be assessed using clinical vignettes. The primary outcome is adherence tobest clinical practice guidelines, categorized into full adherence, partial adherence,and nonadherence.Discussion: This study aims to leverage artificial intelligence for capacity enhancement,targeting the shortcomings of primary care pediatrics and using VSP to help enhanceprimary care pediatrics capacity. It is a randomized controlled trial involving over 300primary healthcare institutions across more than 10 provinces in China, ensuring broadand representative participation from both developed and underdeveloped regions.