Accepted Type
Dedicated Poster
Code
LP16 - 02
Acceptance Declaration
Accept
Additional Information
I declare I have no actual or potential conflict of interest in relation to this program.
Was this work accepted for CCME 2020?
no
Category
General Call (Workshop, Oral Presentation, Poster Presentation)
Type
Poster
Sub Type
Education Innovation
Will the presenter be a:
Student
Affiliation
Title
Simulated Patient Encounters: An Online Medical Education Tool to Train Clinical Reasoning Skills
Length of Presentation
Background/Purpose
Developing clinical reasoning and decision-making is a key objective of medical education. However, this skill set is generally not formally taught nor assessed in pre-clerkship undergraduate medical curricula. Furthermore, the virtualization of clerkship due to COVID-19 has further limited students' direct exposure to clinical patient care. These present a gap in the medical curriculum where students lack practical experience in navigating knowledge gathering and decision-making in the clinical setting.
Summary of the Innovation
We have developed an online tool that simulates a virtual clinical visit and a hospital EMR, where students are presented with a patient and chief complaint. Students autonomously gather history, select and interpret physical exams and investigations, generate a list of differential diagnoses, decide upon a final diagnosis, and propose a management plan, at their own pace. Each patient is procedurally generated to enable a large repertoire of cases with varying presentations that mimic a realistic patient population. On completing the case, the student is provided automated feedback on the pertinent aspects of the case. This learning model complements traditional medical teaching by encouraging application of the student's accrued knowledge beyond rote memorization, as well as developing intuition about patient variation and the diagnostic utility of different findings.
Conclusion
We have developed a novel tool for self-directed learning of clinical reasoning skills. We collected qualitative feedback from medical students and faculty members to inform its development and evaluate its usefulness. This demonstrates the feasibility of computerized simulations as a tool for enhancing medical education.
Keyword 1
Simulated Patients
Keyword 2
Pre-clerkship learning
Keyword 3
Clinical Experience
Level of Training
Undergraduate
Abstract Themes
Teaching and learning
Teaching and Learning
- Clinical Skills
- Distance Learning
- E-Learning/Technology
- Simulation
Additional Theme (First choice)
Undergraduate
Additional Theme (Second Choice)
Distributed Medical Education
Additional Theme (Third Choice)
Assessment
Authors
Presenter
Mark Grinberg
Term 1
Yes
Term 2
Yes
Term 3
Yes
Term 4
Yes
Term 5
Yes
