Virtual Patients in Health Professions Education

2019 ◽  
pp. 25-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathaniel Patrick Andrew Quail ◽  
James Graham Boyle
Keyword(s):  
Health Professions ◽  
Health Professions Education ◽  
Virtual Patients

Virtual Patients in Health Professions Education

2017 ◽  
pp. 245-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Kleinheksel
Keyword(s):  
Online Education ◽  
Health Professions ◽  
Virtual Patient ◽  
Health Professions Education ◽  
Virtual Patients ◽  
Patient Simulations ◽  
Clinical Placements ◽  
Technology Innovations ◽  
Controlled Environments ◽  
Increasing Demand

The field of health professions continues to struggle with the impact of increasing practitioner and educator shortages. Health professions education is also faced with the issues of limited clinical placements and an increasing demand for online education. To address these issues, health professions educators have increasingly turned to simulations to provide experiential learning in safe, controlled environments. One of the newest simulation technology innovations to emerge is that of virtual patient simulations. This chapter reviews the context in which virtual patients have emerged, the range of virtual patient technologies available, and the ways in which health professions educators currently use virtual patient simulations.

scholarly journals Virtual Patient Simulations in Health Professions Education: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis by the Digital Health Education Collaboration (Preprint)

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej A Kononowicz ◽  
Luke A Woodham ◽  
Samuel Edelbring ◽  
Natalia Stathakarou ◽  
David Davies ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Health Professions ◽  
Virtual Patient ◽  
Traditional Education ◽  
Health Professions Education ◽  
Virtual Patients ◽  
Patient Simulations ◽  
Digital Education ◽  
Clinical Scenarios

BACKGROUND Virtual patients are interactive digital simulations of clinical scenarios for the purpose of health professions education. There is no current collated evidence on the effectiveness of this form of education. OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual patients compared with traditional education, blended with traditional education, compared with other types of digital education, and design variants of virtual patients in health professions education. The outcomes of interest were knowledge, skills, attitudes, and satisfaction. METHODS We performed a systematic review on the effectiveness of virtual patient simulations in pre- and postregistration health professions education following Cochrane methodology. We searched 7 databases from the year 1990 up to September 2018. No language restrictions were applied. We included randomized controlled trials and cluster randomized trials. We independently selected studies, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias and then compared the information in pairs. We contacted study authors for additional information if necessary. All pooled analyses were based on random-effects models. RESULTS A total of 51 trials involving 4696 participants met our inclusion criteria. Furthermore, 25 studies compared virtual patients with traditional education, 11 studies investigated virtual patients as blended learning, 5 studies compared virtual patients with different forms of digital education, and 10 studies compared different design variants. The pooled analysis of studies comparing the effect of virtual patients to traditional education showed similar results for knowledge (standardized mean difference [SMD]=0.11, 95% CI −0.17 to 0.39, I2=74%, n=927) and favored virtual patients for skills (SMD=0.90, 95% CI 0.49 to 1.32, I2=88%, n=897). Studies measuring attitudes and satisfaction predominantly used surveys with item-by-item comparison. Trials comparing virtual patients with different forms of digital education and design variants were not numerous enough to give clear recommendations. Several methodological limitations in the included studies and heterogeneity contributed to a generally low quality of evidence. CONCLUSIONS Low to modest and mixed evidence suggests that when compared with traditional education, virtual patients can more effectively improve skills, and at least as effectively improve knowledge. The skills that improved were clinical reasoning, procedural skills, and a mix of procedural and team skills. We found evidence of effectiveness in both high-income and low- and middle-income countries, demonstrating the global applicability of virtual patients. Further research should explore the utility of different design variants of virtual patients.

scholarly journals Computerized Virtual Patients in Health Professions Education: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

2010 ◽  
Vol 85 (10) ◽  
pp. 1589-1602 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Cook ◽  
Patricia J. Erwin ◽  
Marc M. Triola
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Health Professions ◽  
Health Professions Education ◽  
Virtual Patients

A Multifaceted Systems Approach to Addressing Stress Within Health Professions Education and Beyond

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Darla Spence Coffey ◽  
◽  
Kathrin Elliot ◽  
Elizabeth Goldblatt ◽  
Catherine Grus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systems Approach ◽  
Health Professions ◽  
Health Professions Education

'I Teach It Because It Is the Biggest Threat to Health': Integrating a Planetary Health Perspective into Health Professions Education

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabrielle Brand ◽  
Jorja Collins ◽  
Gitanjali Bedi ◽  
James Bonnamy ◽  
Liza Barbour ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Professions ◽  
Health Professions Education ◽  
Planetary Health

The application of virtual reality in health professions� digital education: a narrative review (Preprint)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorraine Tudor Car ◽  
Bhone Myint Kyaw ◽  
Josip Car
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Health Professions ◽  
Health Professions Education ◽  
Narrative Review ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Educational Content ◽  
Potential Applications

BACKGROUND Digital technology called Virtual Reality (VR) is increasingly employed in health professions’ education. Yet, based on the current evidence, its use is narrowed around a few most applications and disciplines. There is a lack of an overview that would capture the diversity of different VR applications in health professions’ education and inform its use and research. OBJECTIVE This narrative review aims to explore different potential applications of VR in health professions’ education. METHODS The narrative synthesis approach to literature review was used to analyse the existing evidence. RESULTS We outline the role of VR features such as immersion, interactivity and feedback and explain the role of VR devices. Based on the type and scope of educational content VR can represent space, individuals, objects, structures or their combination. Application of VR in medical education encompasses environmental, organ and micro level. Environmental VR focuses on training in relation to health professionals’ environment and human interactions. Organ VR educational content targets primarily human body anatomy; and micro VR microscopic structures at the level of cells, molecules and atoms. We examine how different VR features and health professional education areas match these three VR types. CONCLUSIONS We conclude by highlighting the gaps in the literature and providing suggestions for future research.

scholarly journals Creative leaps in theory: the might of abduction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mario Veen
Keyword(s):  
Health Professions ◽  
Central Place ◽  
Health Professions Education ◽  
Abductive Reasoning ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The World

AbstractThis paper argues that abductive reasoning has a central place in theorizing Health Professions Education. At the root of abduction lies a fundamental debate: How do we connect practice, which is always singular and unique, with theory, which describes the world in terms of rules, generalizations, and universals? While abduction was initially seen as the ‘poor cousin’ of deduction and induction, ultimately it has something important to tell us about the role of imagination and humility in theorizing Health Professions Education. It is that which makes theory possible, because it allows us to ask what might be the case and calls attention to the role of creative leaps in theory. Becoming aware of the abductive reasoning we already perform in our research allows us to take the role of imagination—something rarely associated with theory—seriously.

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