--- title: "Hospital VR case studies: Mater Education and Mayo Clinic" description: "Hospital programs for feedback, speaking up and bias, built by People Tech Revolution with staff at Mater Education and Mayo Clinic, with published evaluations." canonical: https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/healthcare-medical --- [Our Work](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work) / [Case Studies](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies) # Healthcare and medical case studies At Mater and Mayo Clinic, staff rehearse the conversation before the shift where it counts. [Download the Mater case study PDF](https://peopletechrevolution.com/uploads/docs/people-tech-revolution-mater-immersive-learning-pilot-case-study.pdf) Request access to the full Mayo Clinic case study A clinician rehearses the hard conversation. ## Where clinical conversations go wrong A break room, a corridor, a ward at handover: the places where a colleague says the thing that sits with someone for a week. Mater Education and Mayo Clinic each brought PTR one of those moments. Each now has a VR program that its own staff run, and its own published account of what changed. Mater Education ## Speaking with Good Judgement Mater's feedback and speaking-up program, rebuilt in VR inside recreations of its own hospital rooms. Face to face with a ward nurse. ### Feedback, rehearsed in the rooms it happens in Participation in the face-to-face program was waning. Mater asked whether a more interactive version could win its audience back without losing the substance. PTR built a branched VR experience with Mater Education, the program team leads and the Centre for Medical Simulation at Harvard. It was delivered face to face to more than 60 participants across Mater campuses, and Mater's own facilitators were trained to run it. [Read the Mater Education case study](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/mater-speaking-with-good-judgement) ### What Mater staff practised A choice at the bedside, a colleague who has looked away, a handover at the station: the moments in the build. Choosing what to say at the bedside. A nurse leader decides whether to speak up. Two nurses discuss a handover at the station. A nurse in the headset, a colleague beside. ### What Mater measured Mater Education evaluated the pilot with the staff who took it. These are its figures. 93% said they enjoyed the experience 90% reported an increase in their concentration 96% wanted more VR-based learning in future programs 60+ participants across Mater campuses Figures as reported by Mater Education following its program evaluation. [Mater Education, immersive learning pilot closure report, 2025](https://peopletechrevolution.com/uploads/docs/people-tech-revolution-mater-immersive-learning-pilot-case-study.pdf) > "The evaluation showed great results, with a strong use case for VR to improve communication in health settings." Leonie Sanderson Co-founder, People Tech Revolution. [Aerospace Xelerated spotlight, Medium](https://medium.com/aeroxelerated/spotlight-people-tech-revolution-62d11e4ae535) Mayo Clinic ## A Day In a Lifetime Short VR scenarios drawn from Mayo Clinic nurses' own experiences of bias, racism and allyship, with a facilitated debrief after each one. Hands raised together in the simulated ward. ### Nurse leaders meet the moment before the floor does Built by People Tech Revolution and co-designed with Mayo Clinic nursing staff, the series puts nurse and social worker leaders inside conversations they had described from their own careers. It reached more than 1,100 leaders across Mayo Clinic campuses, and two peer-reviewed papers reported gains in empathy and in willingness to act as an upstander. [Read the controlled trial](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117648). [Read the Mayo Clinic case study](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/mayo-clinic-a-day-in-a-lifetime) ### The scenes Mayo Clinic leaders stepped into A staff room table, a facilitator beside the headset, a ward bay with the lights low. A facilitator guides a participant through a scenario. A hard conversation over coffee. A nurse crouches to a patient's level. ## Where the practice goes next The same method reaches other clinical conversations: a ward round, a dental chair, the route through a clinic. A ward round, walked through beside the bed. A dental appointment, explained before the chair. Finding the way through a clinic corridor. ## Inside the Mater build The same piece of feedback, landing two different ways. Using VR for workplace culture with Mater Education A short look inside the VR build People Tech Revolution made with Mater Education, showing how differently the same piece of feedback can land. ### At the bedside, from the speaker's position The film is a short capture from inside Speaking with Good Judgement, Mater's own program for giving feedback and speaking up, rebuilt so hospital staff can rehearse it in the rooms where it happens. The full account of the pilot, and what Mater measured, is in the [case study](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/mater-speaking-with-good-judgement). ## Where next The industry page, the research behind the Mayo Clinic program, and the pages that explain the medium. [Healthcare and Medical. Every clinical conversation PTR builds for, in one place. Bedside, triage desk and family room, with the evidence linked.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/healthcare-medical) [Mayo Clinic research. Two peer-reviewed papers, read in full. What the controlled trial measured, and how long the gains lasted.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/research-evidence/vr-nursing-leaders-mayo-clinic) [What is virtual reality? The medium explained without jargon. Why a room you can stand in changes how a lesson lands.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/xr/what-is-virtual-reality) ### And more places to look Every case study PTR has published, and the practice room hospitals return to for a repeatable shift. [All case studies. Client by client, what was built and what happened. Eight programs across health, education, government and the workplace.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies) [Immersive training and roleplay. The practice room PTR builds for hospitals. Repeatable conversations, run as many times as a shift needs.](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/vr-training-and-roleplay) Want a result like this for your own healthcare team? [Open the contact form](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/healthcare-medical#contact) Ask our CEO Simon Lowe’s Digital Twin a question