The virtual patient as a learning tool: a mixed quantitative qualitative study

Autor: Andrés Isaza-Restrepo, María Teresa Gómez, Gary Cifuentes, Arturo Argüello
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2018
Předmět:
Zdroj: BMC Medical Education, Vol 18, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2018)
Druh dokumentu: article
ISSN: 1472-6920
DOI: 10.1186/s12909-018-1395-8
Popis: Abstract Background The use of simulation in medical education has been widely accepted. There are different types of medical simulators that vary in both accuracy to emulate the real world (fidelity) and cost of development or acquisition. There is significant evidence that supports the use of high-fidelity simulators (i.e. mannequins or dummies) to prepare students for clinical environments, less attention has been given to low-fidelity simulators. This article aims to present evidence regarding the effectiveness of a low-fidelity simulator: Virtual Patient (VP), which develops several interactive computer-based clinical scenarios, seeking to promote an alternative learning environment and the development of necessary medical skills such as clinical reasoning in students of medicine. Methods A quasi-experimental study was designed to investigate the results on the development of history taking and clinical reasoning skills in a group of undergraduate medical students, in a course devised under the concepts of constructivism in education, which used the Virtual Patient as the fundamental teaching tool. Results were measured through a mixed, quantitative and qualitative study, triangulating the results of the students’ skills evaluation when facing a clinical case represented by an actor patient before and after the course. Additionally, the description of the students’ and tool’s performance was measured by way of a qualitative study. Results The comparison of the students’ skills on the evaluation matrix before-and-after the course evidenced a statistically significant advance (p
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