Abstract
Virtual patients represent a useful tool in teaching students clinical reasoning skills. Virtual cases (www.e-kazuistiky.cz) represent a newly developed interactive problem-based learning system, drawing information from virtual clinics, covering different fields of internal medicine, generating sets of unique virtual patients according to user-predefined program settings (spectrum of diagnoses, number of patients and criteria for passing the course).
Basic clinical information including personal data, medical history, symptoms, laboratory values, etc. is generated for each virtual patient. The main task for the student is to determine the optimal diagnostic algorithm (choose adequate diagnostic steps in the correct order), and to determine the correct diagnosis in each virtual patient.
Results of diagnostics tests and clinical findings are presented utilising a multimedia presentation (images, video-sequences, audio-recordings). Evaluation of students includes not only assessment of correctly determined diagnosis, but also the diagnostic pathway, which led the user to the specific diagnosis.
Thus, the system enables assessment of appropriateness of each test as well as reasonable sequencing of tests and also financial costs of all examinations.The program is now routinely used in the undergraduate curriculum at the Medical Faculty in Hradec Králové. User hands-on experience was evaluated through anonymous questionnaires.
The most appreciated attribute of the system is the game-like involvement and multimedia-supporting environment (for students) as well as the possibility of a detailed analysis of each student's performance and clear identification of their weakest areas (for tutors). The system is a useful tool for undergraduate medical education with positive feedback from both students and teachers.
The main advantages are flexibility, potential for further growth and no restrictions regarding particular disease, clinical discipline, diagnostic procedure, etc.