Development, implementation and pilot evaluation of a Web-based Virtual Patient Case Simulation environment – Web-SP

BACKGROUND: The Web-based Simulation of Patients (Web-SP) project was initiated in order to facilitate the use of realistic and interactive virtual patients (VP) in medicine and healthcare education. Web-SP focuses on moving beyond the technology savvy teachers, when integrating simulation-based education into health sciences curricula, by making the creation and use of virtual patients easier. The project strives to provide a common generic platform for design/creation, management, evaluation and sharing of web-based virtual patients. The aim of this study was to evaluate if it was possible to develop a web-based virtual patient case simulation environment where the entire case authoring process might be handled by teachers and which would be flexible enough to be used in different healthcare disciplines. RESULTS: The Web-SP system was constructed to support easy authoring, management and presentation of virtual patient cases. The case authoring environment was found to facilitate for teachers to create full-fledged patient cases without the assistance of computer specialists. Web-SP was successfully implemented at several universities by taking into account key factors such as cost, access, security, scalability and flexibility. Pilot evaluations in medical, dentistry and pharmacy courses shows that students regarded Web-SP as easy to use, engaging and to be of educational value. Cases adapted for all three disciplines were judged to be of significant educational value by the course leaders. CONCLUSION: The Web-SP system seems to fulfil the aim of providing a common generic platform for creation, management and evaluation of web-based virtual patient cases. The responses regarding the authoring environment indicated that the system might be user-friendly enough to appeal to a majority of the academic staff. In terms of implementation strengths, Web-SP seems to fulfil most needs from course directors and teachers from various educational institutions and disciplines. The system is currently in use or under implementation in several healthcare disciplines at more than ten universities worldwide. Future aims include structuring the exchange of cases between teachers and academic institutions by building a VP library function. We intend to follow up the positive results presented in this paper with other studies looking at the learning outcomes, critical thinking and patient management. Studying the potential of Web-SP as an assessment tool will also be performed. More information about Web-SP

An e-learning reproductive health module to support improved student learning and interaction: a prospective interventional study at a medical school in Egypt

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The Public Health (PH) course at the medical college of Cairo University is based on traditional lectures. Large enrollment limits students' discussions and interactions with instructors.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>Evaluate students' learning outcomes as measured by improved knowledge acquisition and opinions of redesigning the Reproductive Health (RH) section of the PH course into e-learning and assessing e-course utilization.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This prospective interventional study started with development of an e-learning course covering the RH section, with visual and interactive emphasis, to satisfy students' diverse learning styles. Two student groups participated in this study. The first group received traditional lecturing, while the second volunteered to enroll in the e-learning course, taking online course quizzes. Both groups answered knowledge and course evaluation questionnaires and were invited to group discussions. Additionally, the first group answered another questionnaire about reasons for non-participation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Students participating in the e-learning course showed significantly better results, than those receiving traditional tutoring. Students who originally shunned the e-course expressed eagerness to access the course before the end of the academic year. Overall, students using the redesigned e-course reported better learning experiences.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>An online course with interactivities and interaction, can overcome many educational drawbacks of large enrolment classes, enhance student's learning and complement pit-falls of large enrollment traditional tutoring.</p

Computer-aided DSM-IV-diagnostics – acceptance, use and perceived usefulness in relation to users' learning styles

BACKGROUND: CDSS (computerized decision support system) for medical diagnostics have been studied for long. This study was undertaken to investigate how different preferences of Learning Styles (LS) of psychiatrists might affect acceptance, use and perceived usefulness of a CDSS for diagnostics in psychiatry. METHODS: 49 psychiatrists (specialists and non-specialists) from 3 different clinics volunteered to participate in this study and to use the CDSS to diagnose a paper-based case (based on a real patient). LS, attitudes to CDSS and complementary data were obtained via questionnaires and interviews. To facilitate the study, a special version of the CDSS was created, which automatically could log interaction details. RESULTS: The LS preferences (according to Kolb) of the 49 physicians turned out as follows: 37% were Assimilating, 31% Converging, 27% Accommodating and 6% Diverging. The CDSS under study seemed to favor psychiatrists with abstract conceptualization information perceiving mode (Assimilating and Converging learning styles). A correlation between learning styles preferences and computer skill was found. Positive attitude to computer-aided diagnostics and learning styles preferences was also found to correlate. Using the CDSS, the specialists produced only 1 correct diagnosis and the non-specialists 2 correct diagnoses (median values) as compared to the three predetermined correct diagnoses of the actual case. Only 10% had all three diagnoses correct, 41 % two correct, 47 % one correct and 2 % had no correct diagnose at all. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the use of CDSS does not guarantee correct diagnosis and that LS might influence the results. Future research should focus on the possibility to create systems open to individuals with different LS preferences and possibility to create CDSS adapted to the level of expertise of the user

Decision support in psychiatry – a comparison between the diagnostic outcomes using a computerized decision support system versus manual diagnosis

Abstract Background Correct diagnosis in psychiatry may be improved by novel diagnostic procedures. Computerized Decision Support Systems (CDSS) are suggested to be able to improve diagnostic procedures, but some studies indicate possible problems. Therefore, it could be important to investigate CDSS systems with regard to their feasibility to improve diagnostic procedures as well as to save time. Methods This study was undertaken to compare the traditional 'paper and pencil' diagnostic method SCID1 with the computer-aided diagnostic system CB-SCID1 to ascertain processing time and accuracy of diagnoses suggested. 63 clinicians volunteered to participate in the study and to solve two paper-based cases using either a CDSS or manually. Results No major difference between paper and pencil and computer-supported diagnosis was found. Where a difference was found it was in favour of paper and pencil. For example, a significantly shorter time was found for paper and pencil for the difficult case, as compared to computer support. A significantly higher number of correct diagnoses were found in the diffilt case for the diagnosis 'Depression' using the paper and pencil method. Although a majority of the clinicians found the computer method supportive and easy to use, it took a longer time and yielded fewer correct diagnoses than with paper and pencil. Conclusion This study could not detect any major difference in diagnostic outcome between traditional paper and pencil methods and computer support for psychiatric diagnosis. Where there were significant differences, traditional paper and pencil methods were better than the tested CDSS and thus we conclude that CDSS for diagnostic procedures may interfere with diagnosis accuracy. A limitation was that most clinicians had not previously used the CDSS system under study. The results of this study, however, confirm that CDSS development for diagnostic purposes in psychiatry has much to deal with before it can be used for routine clinical purposes.</p

Computer-aided DSM-IV-diagnostics – acceptance, use and perceived usefulness in relation to users' learning styles-0

<p><b>Copyright information:</b></p><p>Taken from "Computer-aided DSM-IV-diagnostics – acceptance, use and perceived usefulness in relation to users' learning styles"</p><p>BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making 2005;5():1-1.</p><p>Published online 7 Jan 2005</p><p>PMCID:PMC545069.</p><p>Copyright © 2005 Bergman and Fors; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.</p

Language, culture and international exchange of virtual patients

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Language and cultural differences could be a limiting factor for the international exchange of Virtual Patients (VPs), especially for small countries and languages of limited circulation. Our research evaluated whether it would be feasible to develop a VP based educational program in our Romanian institution, with cases in English and developed in a non-Romanian setting.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>The participants in the research comprised 4^th year Romanian medical students from the Faculty of Medicine in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, with previous training exclusively in Romanian, good English proficiency and no experience with VPs. The students worked on eight VPs in two identical versions, Romanian and English. The first group (2010) of 136 students worked with four VPs developed in Cluj and the second group (2011) of 144 students with four VPs originally developed at an US University. Every student was randomly assigned two different VPs, one in Romanian and another in English. Student activity throughout the case, the diagnosis, therapeutic plan and diagnosis justification were recorded. We also compared student performance on the two VPs versions, Romanian and English and the student performance on the two sets of cases, originally developed in Romania, respectively USA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found no significant differences between the students’ performance on the Romanian vs. English version of VPs. Regarding the students’ performance on the two sets of cases, in those originally developed in Romania, respectively in the USA, we found a number of statistically significant differences in the students’ activity through the cases. There were no statistically significant differences in the students’ ability to reach the correct diagnosis and therapeutic plan.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The development of our program with VPs in English would be feasible, cost-effective and in accordance with the globalization of medical education.</p