Implementing and Evaluating a Scenario Builder Tool for Pediatric Virtual Patients

Baccalaureate nursing students have few opportunities to practice patient interaction be-fore they reach their clinical experiences. Traditional practice opportunities include roleplay and interviews with paid actors (called standardized patients). Unfortunately, neither of these methods realistically simulates many of the patient interactions that nurses will encounter on a daily basis. Virtual patients are computer simulations that behave in the same way that an actual patient would in a medical context. Since these characters are simulated, they can provide realistic yet repetitive practice in patient interaction since they can represent a wide range of patients and each scenario can be practiced until the student achieves competency. However, the development costs for virtual patients are high, since creation of a single scenario may take up to nine months. In this work, we present a virtual patient platform that reduces development costs. The SIDNIE (Scaffolded Interviews Developed by Nurses in Education) system can adapt a single scenario to multiple levels of learners and supports the selection of multiple learning goals. We have shown that SIDNIE is effective for learning [Dukes et al., 2013]. We designed and evaluated a scenario-builder tool that enables nursing faculty to create their own scenarios for SIDNIE, without the aid of a computer scientist. Additionally, we showed that scenarios created using this system could be effective for teaching nursing students verbal communication skills by conducting a user study with freshman nursing students

Virtual knowledge brokering : describing the roles and strategies used by knowledge brokers in a pediatric physiotherapy virtual community of practice

Introduction: Knowledge transfer in pediatric rehabilitation is challenging and requires active, multifaceted strategies. The use of knowledge brokers (KBs) is one such strategy noted to promote clinician behavior change. The success of using KBs to transfer knowledge relies on their ability to adapt to ever-changing clinical contexts. In addition, with the rapid growth of online platforms as knowledge transfer forums, KBs must become effective in virtual environments. Although the role of KBs has been studied in various clinical contexts, their emerging role in specific online environments designed to support evidence-based behavior change has not yet been described. Our objective is to describe the roles of, and strategies used by, four KBs involved in a virtual community of practice to guide and inform future online KB interventions. Methods: A descriptive design guided this study and a thematic content analysis process was used to analyze online KB postings. The Promoting Action on Research in Health Sciences knowledge transfer framework and online andragogical learning theories assisted in the coding. A thematic map was created illustrating the links between KBs' strategies and emerging roles in the virtual environment. Results: We analyzed 95 posts and identified three roles: 1) context architect: promoting a respectful learning environment, 2) knowledge sharing promoter: building capacity, and 3) linkage creator: connecting research-to-practice. Strategies used by KBs reflected invitational, constructivism, and connectivism approaches, with roles and strategies changing over time. Discussion: This study increases our understanding of the actions of KBs in virtual contexts to foster uptake of research evidence in pediatric physiotherapy. Our results provide valuable information about the knowledge and skills required by individuals to fulfill this role in virtual environments