Cultural Medicine, Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Department of Computer and Systems Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden.
BMC Med Educ. 2021 May 11;21(1):270. doi: 10.1186/s12909-021-02701-z.
Virtual patients are educational tools that may be described as case-based interactive computer simulations of clinical scenarios. In terms of learning outcomes, improved clinical reasoning skills and knowledge acquisition have been shown. For further exploring the role of virtual patients in medical education, a greater focus on context-specific cases, combined with suitable educational activities, has been suggested. A knowledge gap has been identified in cultural competence in primary care. As primary care physicians are often the main medical providers for patients with refugee backgrounds, they would probably benefit from improved training focusing on how to apply cultural competence in everyday work. Using virtual patient cases, as a complement to clinical training, may be one way forward. The aim of this study was therefore to explore a learner perspective on the educational use of a virtual patient system designed to contribute to training in cultural competence in a primary care context.
Three virtual patient cases portraying patients with refugee backgrounds were developed. The cases addressed various issues and symptoms common in primary care consultations, while also incorporating intercultural aspects. The system also provided the informants with individualized feedback. Primary care physicians and medical students were invited to test the cases and participate in an interview about their experience. Data was analyzed using qualitative content analysis.
The analysis generated the theme Virtual patients might help improve cultural competence in physicians and medical students by complementing knowledge gained through the informal curriculum. Informants at different educational levels found it suitable as a tool for introducing the topic and for reflecting on one's own consultations. It could also compensate for the predominant informal manner of learning cultural competence, described by the informants.
Virtual patients could be useful for gaining cultural competence in a primary care context. Advantages that could benefit learners at both pre- and post-graduate levels are decreased dependence on the informal curriculum and being presented with an illustrative way of how cultural competence may be applied in the consultation.
虚拟患者是一种教育工具，可以被描述为基于案例的临床场景的交互式计算机模拟。在学习成果方面，已经显示出提高临床推理技能和知识获取的效果。为了进一步探索虚拟患者在医学教育中的作用，建议更加关注特定于情境的案例，并结合适当的教育活动。在初级保健中的文化能力方面存在知识差距。由于初级保健医生通常是难民背景患者的主要医疗提供者，因此他们可能会受益于专注于如何在日常工作中应用文化能力的培训。使用虚拟患者案例作为临床培训的补充可能是一种方法。因此，本研究的目的是探讨学习者对设计用于为初级保健背景下的文化能力培训做出贡献的虚拟患者系统的教育使用的看法。
开发了三个描绘难民背景患者的虚拟患者案例。这些案例涉及初级保健咨询中常见的各种问题和症状，同时也纳入了跨文化方面。该系统还为信息提供者提供了个性化反馈。初级保健医生和医学生受邀测试案例并参加关于他们经验的访谈。使用定性内容分析对数据进行分析。
分析产生了主题“虚拟患者可能通过补充通过非正式课程获得的知识，帮助提高医生和医学生的文化能力”。不同教育水平的信息提供者认为它适合作为引入主题和反思自己咨询的工具。它还可以弥补信息提供者描述的主要非正式学习文化能力的方式。
虚拟患者在初级保健环境中获得文化能力可能是有用的。它可以为预科和研究生学习者带来优势，减少对非正式课程的依赖，并提供一种说明性的方式，了解如何在咨询中应用文化能力。
