Abstract
Virtual patients are computerised representations of realistic clinical cases. They were developed to teach clinical reasoning skills through delivery of multiple standardized patient cases. The anesthesia course at The Chinese University of Hong Kong developed two novel types of virtual patients, formative assessment cases studies and storyline, to teach its final year medical students on a 2 week rotational course. Acute pain management cases were used to test if these two types of virtual patient could enhance student learning. A 2 × 2 cross over study was performed in academic year 2010–2011 on 130 students divided into four groups of 32–34. Performance was evaluated by acute pain management items set within three examinations; an end of module 60-item multiple choice paper, a short answer modified essay paper and the end of year final surgery modified essay paper. The pain management case studies were found to enhanced student performance in all three examinations, whilst the storyline virtual patient had no demonstrable effect. Student-teaching evaluation questionnaires showed that the case studies were favored more than the storyline virtual patient. Login times showed that students on average logged onto the case studies for 6 h, whereas only half the students logged on and used the storyline virtual patient. Formative assessment case studies were well liked by the students and reinforced learning of clinical algorithms through repetition and feedback, whereas the educational role of the more narrative and less interactive storyline virtual patient was less clear .
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Judy Wong for her work on the early stages of development of the VPs. This project was supported by a Chinese University of Hong Kong Teaching Development Grant for 2005–2008 (Project ID: 4170251).
Ethical Standard
The formal ethical approval for this study was waivered by the Dean of Education of The Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Conflict of interest
The authors report no competing interests.
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Leung, J.Y.C., Critchley, L.A.H., Yung, A.L.K. et al. Evidence of virtual patients as a facilitative learning tool on an anesthesia course. Adv in Health Sci Educ 20, 885–901 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-014-9570-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10459-014-9570-0