--- title: "Hospital de-escalation and occupational violence training" description: "Hospital staff rehearse de-escalation, aggression and the hard corridor update in VR, built by People Tech Revolution with Mater Education and Mayo Clinic." canonical: https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/healthcare-medical --- [Our Work](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work) / [Industries](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries) # Healthcare conversations you get one attempt at Bedside, triage desk and family room: the conversations clinical staff usually get one attempt at. Choosing what to say at the bedside. ## Somewhere to get it wrong first PTR's [healthcare work](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/healthcare-medical) gives clinical and hospital staff somewhere to rehearse difficult conversations, bias awareness and speaking up. Nothing in the room can be harmed, so staff practise the same scenario as many times as they need before they meet it on a shift. That practice runs in hospitals in Australia and in the United States. Clinical teams at Mater Education and at Mayo Clinic each shaped what their own staff would rehearse. The same duty, a different rulebook ## In the United States it arrives as workplace violence prevention An accredited hospital anywhere in the country carries a named training obligation, and several states go further and say how the training has to be delivered. The ward station briefing, rehearsed. ### The accreditor names the content [The Joint Commission](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/joint-commission-workplace-violence) requires training at hire, annually, and whenever the program changes, and it names what the training covers: de-escalation, nonphysical intervention skills, physical intervention techniques and response to emergency incidents. Documentation is required. That is the American counterpart of the actions above, in one citation rather than two. A [state-by-state view](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/workplace-violence-training-united-states) sits alongside it, because the accreditor is rarely the only rule a hospital is meeting. A presenter introduces the hospital training build. ### Two states wrote the method into law [California’s health care standard](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/california-sb-553-training) requires an opportunity to practise the techniques with the colleagues you work with, and a meeting to debrief the practice session. [Nevada](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/nevada-workplace-violence-training) copied it and added a record of every session. That is the same thing PTR builds, described by a legislature. Where you set it up that way, what comes out the other side is [the register an assessor reads](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/workplace-violence-training-records), which is the part a course alone never produces. Want your team practising a real scenario like this? [Open the contact form](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/healthcare-medical#contact) Ask our CEO Simon Lowe’s Digital Twin a question Clinical education and mandatory training ## The training program the assessor asks to see An assessor wants to see a program that runs, and a list of who has been through it. A handover practised in the corridor. ### The corridor is the classroom At handover two nurses stop between rooms, and one of them has to raise something the other would rather not hear. It is over quickly. Nobody books a lecture for it, and a whole shift can turn on the way it goes. Your assessors see a program that runs, with the register of who rehearsed what and when. ### Inside the mandatory program you already run [NSQHS Action 1.20](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/nsqhs-action-1-20), set by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, asks a health service to run a mandatory training program and monitor who takes part. PTR builds the rehearsal inside that program, so the same scenario runs until it holds. [Action 5.34](https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/standards/nsqhs-standards/comprehensive-care-standard) ([explained here](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/nsqhs-action-5-34)) asks for de-escalation that protects patients, families and the workforce. The agitated relative, the triage counter and the corridor update above are that practice, rehearsed well before the shift that needs them. [For Directors of Clinical Services](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/healthcare-medical/directors-of-clinical-services) ## The conversation nobody wants to lead Each scenario below is a moment somebody has to lead, rehearsed first. A bedside conversation in a ward bay. A man at the emergency triage counter. Giving someone room, and holding the silence. ### The family room and the corridor Two more moments somebody has to lead, with the same few minutes to lead them in. A midwife sits opposite a couple. Updating a family in the corridor. ## Posture and language, before the words Two habits decide how a conversation lands: whether you speak to the person or over them, and whether you get down to their level. Both loops below are that decision, made in the room. Speaking to the patient, not to the interpreter. A nurse crouches to a patient's level. ## Work in this sector Mater Education evaluated its pilot with the staff who took it, and reported strong engagement. The Mayo Clinic program sits behind two peer-reviewed papers with a six to eight month follow-up. PTR's healthcare VR promo ### What the work looks like on a ward A short film of PTR's healthcare training, in the rooms it is built for. The Mater Education and Mayo Clinic programs below are that work in practice, with the evidence each of them published. Mater Education ## Speaking with Good Judgement Feedback conversations, practised inside recreations of the real rooms they happen in. A clinician rehearses the hard conversation. ### A program moved into the headset Mater Education, part of the Mater hospital group in Queensland, worked with PTR, Mater Foundation and Advance Queensland to bring its Speaking with Good Judgement program into VR. Staff practise feedback conversations inside branched scenarios filmed in real Mater rooms. It was delivered face to face to more than 60 staff, and Mater's own evaluation reported these results. > "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, on a VR program built into an Australian healthcare provider's existing training. [Startup Spotlight, Aerospace Xelerated, 2023](https://medium.com/aeroxelerated/spotlight-people-tech-revolution-62d11e4ae535) A nurse leader decides whether to speak up. 93% enjoyed the experience 90% reported an increase in their concentration 77% found VR more engaging than face to face 96% wanted more VR-based learning 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) A patient speaks in his own time. ### What the wider evidence says Mater's figures come from its own pilot. A 2025 study of 36 novice nurses, [published in Healthcare](https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13192435), found immersive VR speak-up training workable for building speaking-up and feedback skills. Its authors call for larger replication. [Read the Mater Education case study](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/mater-speaking-with-good-judgement)[Speaking up for safety training](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/speaking-up-for-safety-training) What a first engagement looks like ## One cohort, then your own facilitators How a hospital starts with PTR, in the order it happened at Mater. Inside the Mater build, at the bedside. ### How it started at Mater A hospital rarely buys a training program outright. It funds a pilot, puts one cohort through it, and then asks the question that decides everything that follows: can we run this ourselves next year, without you in the room? Your own facilitators run the sessions after the handover, on the equipment the pilot proved. ### A funded pilot, a measured cohort, a handover [Mater's own pilot](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/mater-speaking-with-good-judgement) was co-funded, with a $40,000 Advance Queensland grant and $110,000 from Mater Education. The first cohort ran with PTR in the room, and Mater evaluated the results afterwards with the staff who took part. Then Mater's own facilitators were trained to run the sessions, and the program has run on Mater’s own facilitators since. A funded pilot, then a measured cohort, then a handover: that is what a first engagement with PTR looks like. [Talk to us](https://peopletechrevolution.com/talk-to-us) Mayo Clinic ## A Day In a Lifetime A VR series for nurse and social worker leaders, and what it changed. Two hands reach toward a forearm. ### Empathy that was still there months later At Mayo Clinic in the United States, nurse and social worker leaders took part in A Day In a Lifetime, a VR series People Tech Revolution co-designed with the Mayo Clinic team. It was offered to 1,149 leaders, and [two peer-reviewed papers](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117648) found statistically significant gains in empathy and in willingness to act as an upstander, with most gains still present six to eight months later. [Read the Mayo Clinic case study](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/case-studies/mayo-clinic-a-day-in-a-lifetime) XRHealth Australia ## Transport and recovery Getting back behind the wheel at a pace the driver sets, with someone beside them. A return-to-work conversation in the crib room. ### The road comes back slowly With XRHealth Australia, PTR builds immersive experiences that reintroduce the driving environment at a controlled pace. Guided regulation and confidence-building scenarios support people recovering after critical incidents, and the return-to-work conversation is rehearsed in the room it will happen in. ## What the people who ran it said A clinical educator and a delivery partner, in their own words. > "PTR demonstrated a profound understanding of the intricacies of human behaviour." Keia Hobbs, MD University of Illinois Chicago > "Simon and his team have been exceptional collaborators: creative, responsive and genuinely committed to human-centred design. Their ability to understand clinical and operational needs and translate complex ideas into safe, realistic VR environments has made the partnership both productive and enjoyable. Together, we are developing practical, evidence-informed tools that build confidence, resilience and coping strategies through structured, real-world scenarios." Martine McCash Vice President, Services, XRHealth Australia ## Questions people ask before the first cohort Five come up in nearly every first conversation. Here they are, in the words they get asked in. A charge nurse briefs two nurses. ### Does everyone need a headset? No. The same conversation runs typed at the ward desk or spoken aloud in the bay, on screens the unit already owns. The headset is the deepest version of the practice, not the only way to get it. ### How long does one session take? Short enough to fit a real shift. One exchange works at the station between admissions, and another fits on the way back down the corridor. Nobody has to be released for a day. Two nurses discuss a handover at the station. ### Does this count towards our mandatory training program? [Action 1.20](https://peopletechrevolution.com/learn/standards/nsqhs-action-1-20) asks a health service to implement a mandatory training program and to monitor the workforce's participation in it. This sits inside the program you already run, so the attendance column and the practice column come from the same place. ### Who runs it once the first cohort is finished? Your own educators. At Mater Education the facilitators were trained to run the program, and it has run on Mater’s own facilitators since. Coaching someone through cardiac rehab. ### What do we hold at the end that an executive will read? Mater ran its own evaluation and reported the result under its own name, and that closure report is in the evidence list above. Ask for the same shape here: your questions, your participants, your report. ## The minutes a shift gives you Practice has to fit the ward, not the other way round. These are the two moments it fits into: sitting down at the station, and moving between one bay and the next. Working through it at the station. ### Sitting down for two minutes The station between admissions is long enough to work through one exchange. Nothing has to be booked and nothing has to be scheduled, because the clinician is already at the screen. Rehearsing out loud on the way back. ### Or on the way back down the corridor Spoken practice travels with the shift. The same exchange can be run out loud between bays, which is where most of a ward day is spent. ## A few minutes, in whatever room you get Wards, consulting rooms, doorsteps and staff rooms rarely give a clinician more than a few minutes. These scenarios put a practitioner in each of those rooms, with the clock the room really allows. A charge nurse briefs two nurses. A midwife leans toward a new mother. A clinician sits with a young woman outside. ## The quiet parts of a shift A handover at the station and the minutes between patients are where a day gets processed, and where the habits practised above either hold or slip. Two nurses discuss a handover at the station. A nurse sits alone with a mug. ## Care that carries on after the appointment Where the work follows people home, and the drive between visits. Coaching someone through cardiac rehab. A palliative care nurse talks with a visitor. Sitting with a patient through an infusion. ### The consult room and the car Where the work follows people home, and the minutes between visits that reset a clinician. A dietitian leans toward a client. Resetting in the car between visits. ## Through the headset in healthcare The same moments from inside the scenario: a ward round, a triage bay, a medication room, a maternity check. A senior clinician leads a ward round. A man waits at the triage bay counter. A pharmacist at the medication room bench. ## Standing where the patient stands Three moments shot from the patient's side of the room. A patient sits with a dental assistant nearby. An older man attends a clinic with family. A relative gestures beside a facilitator. ## The same conversation, without the headset Ward time comes in the gaps. A written or spoken practice partner runs on the screen already at the desk, so a hard exchange can be rehearsed in the minutes that are free. Working through a hard exchange in writing. ### Typed, at the ward desk Written practice lets a clinician try a sentence, read it back, and change one word before saying it to a patient or a family. Saying the words out loud first. ### Spoken, in the bay Speaking changes the exercise. Hearing your own phrasing is where most bedside conversations are decided, and that is the part a written run cannot rehearse. [AI practice partners](https://peopletechrevolution.com/ai/ai-roleplay-practice) Working in healthcare? Tell us which conversation your team needs to practise first. [Open the contact form](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries/healthcare-medical#contact) Ask our CEO Simon Lowe’s Digital Twin a question ## Sources Each figure above, with its authors and a link to the original. ### [A virtual reality intervention to increase interracial empathy and upstander behaviors in nursing leaders](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2024.117648) Social Science & Medicine, 2025 Phelan, S. M., Burkhartzmeyer, H. L., Standen, E. C., Arcand, L. L., Kiker, K. M., Simiele, K. C., Proulx, A. L., Storsveen, A. S., Deng, Y., Foote, J. M., Kumbamu, A., Prakaashana, A. N., and Nelson, D. E. ### [Promoting Nursing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Through Virtual Reality Learning](https://doi.org/10.1097/NNA.0000000000001503) The Journal of Nursing Administration, 2024 Nelson, D. E., Burkhartzmeyer, H. L., Kiker, K. M., Simiele, K. C., Proulx, A. L., Arcand, L. L., Alcock, L. R., Frederick, R. K., Phelan, S., and Storsveen, A. S. ### [Mater Immersive Learning Pilot closure report](https://peopletechrevolution.com/uploads/docs/people-tech-revolution-mater-immersive-learning-pilot-case-study.pdf) [Download the Mater case study PDF](https://peopletechrevolution.com/uploads/docs/people-tech-revolution-mater-immersive-learning-pilot-case-study.pdf) Mater Education, 2025 Mater Education's own closure report for Speaking with Good Judgement: Through the Looking Glass. ### [Effectiveness of an Immersive Virtual Reality Simulation Speak-Up Training Program for Patient Safety in Novice Nurses](https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare13192435) Healthcare (MDPI), 2025 The author list is not held by PTR. The DOI above resolves to the published paper. ### [Clinical Governance Standard, Action 1.20](https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/standards/nsqhs-standards/clinical-governance-standard) Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care The health service organisation implements a mandatory training program to meet its requirements under the standards, and monitors the workforce's participation in training. ### [Comprehensive Care Standard, Action 5.34](https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/standards/nsqhs-standards/comprehensive-care-standard) Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care The health service organisation has processes to support collaboration with patients, carers and families to identify patients at risk of becoming aggressive or violent, implement de-escalation strategies, and safely manage aggression and minimise harm to patients, carers, families and the workforce. Related PTR work Related PTR work - [VR de-escalation training](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/vr-de-escalation-training) - [Occupational violence & aggression training](https://peopletechrevolution.com/training/occupational-violence-aggression-training) - [Our approach to immersive training](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr) - [The PTR VR Library](https://peopletechrevolution.com/xr/ptr-vr-library) - [Full peer-reviewed research](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/research-evidence) - [All industries](https://peopletechrevolution.com/work/industries)