Tan Zaldy S, Mulhausen Paul L, Smith Stephen R, Ruiz Jorge G
Geriatric Research, Education and Clinical Center, VA Boston Healthcare System, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Gerontol Geriatr Educ. 2010;31(2):163-73. doi: 10.1080/02701961003795813.
The virtual patient is a case-based computer program that combines textual information with multimedia elements such as audio, graphics, and animation. It is increasingly being utilized as a teaching modality by medical educators in various fields of instruction. The inherent complexity of older patients and the shortage of geriatrics educators have spurred the development of virtual patient programs to teach geriatrics at the medical undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels. As an instructional tool, the Virtual Patient must be placed in the correct educational context to help educators identify opportunities for its proper use in the curriculum. In this review, the experiences of three medical schools in the development and application of geriatric virtual patients are described as case studies. In each case study, the challenges encountered and solutions developed are presented. Areas of future research in the use of virtual patients in geriatrics education include the determination of the optimal combination of features, the settings of use of virtual patient programs, the underlying pedagogy, and the limitations in its application in clinical instruction.
虚拟患者是一个基于病例的计算机程序，它将文本信息与音频、图形和动画等多媒体元素相结合。它越来越多地被医学教育工作者在各个教学领域用作一种教学方式。老年患者固有的复杂性以及老年医学教育工作者的短缺，促使了虚拟患者程序的开发，以在医学本科、研究生和博士后水平上教授老年医学。作为一种教学工具，虚拟患者必须置于正确的教育背景中，以帮助教育工作者确定在课程中正确使用它的机会。在这篇综述中，将三所医学院在老年虚拟患者开发和应用方面的经验作为案例研究进行描述。在每个案例研究中，都介绍了遇到的挑战和制定的解决方案。老年医学教育中虚拟患者使用的未来研究领域包括确定功能的最佳组合、虚拟患者程序的使用环境、潜在的教学法以及其在临床教学应用中的局限性。
