Virtual
Learning Technologies for
the
Digital Generation
Grand Challenges in Medical
Education


Increasing education efficiency –
 New fields: genetics, informatics
 A torrent or flood of knowledge
 … while retaining humanistic values
Employing modern educational tools –
 “Authentic” learning situations 

Virtual patients & Task simulations
Team based work - by simulating the work world
Developing metrics for teaching quality and learning
outcome –
 Embed assessment instrumentation within each
lesson

Human Patient Simulator:
One-person exercises in simulation centers
More manikin-based learning:
Multi-person exercises in a simulation
center
Virtual Emergency Department 2004:
Multi-person
exercises in a virtual world
 Videogame technology


Online exercises
One–, or Multiple
‘patients’


Real people log in and
take roles
Patient is a ‘robot’ that
responds to commands
Virtual Emergency
Department



Users access ‘information’ and
exercise ‘decisions’ through menu
Patient physiology is small set of rules
Interactive scenario is followed by
debrief
Emergency Dept. Team Training
• Is the Virtual ED effective?
• Is there a significant difference
between the two methods?
Human Patient Simulator “HPS” (n=14)
pretest case  4 training cases  posttest case
Virtual ED Simulator (n=16)
pretest case  4 training cases  posttest case
30 medical students
& interns
Comparison of Pre & Post
Mean Scores
HPS Group
Virtual ED Group
50.00
Mean Scores
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
Pretest Sum Scores Posttest Sum Scores
Pretest Sum Scores
Posttest Sum Scores
Nine interns did the ‘right Dx & Rx’,
Scored Data/ All Subjects
100100
90
80
80
70 60
60 40
50 20
40
0
30
20
10
0
%- possible points
%- of Possible Points
Percentage of individual scored points
% Pre
% Post
Pre
Post
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Student #
Airway
Breathing
Circulation
Disability
Exposure
Secondary
survey
Other actions
Average improvement between pre- and posttest was 23 %
after practicing on four critically ill virtual patients
. . . training in a Virtual
Virtual
Environment
s
. . . Mimic
Real Places
Creating 3D environments for
learning, practicing,
Stanford Emergency
Department
PATIENT CARE with
INDIVIDUAL
CASUALTIES
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
. . . training in a Virtual World
Stanford Emergency
Department
PATIENT CARE IN
MASS CASUALTY
EVENTS, &
AMID THE CHAOS
What do EM–MDs and RNs
think?
Q4:
Q5:How
Howuseful
usefuldo
doyou
youthink
thinkthese
thesesimulation
simulationexercises
exercises would
would
be forbe
learning
to initially
assess
and manage
patients
for learning
to work
as a member
of antrauma
Emergency
in the Emergency
DepartmentDepartment?
team?
Percentage of participants
Percentage of participants
9090
8080
7070
6060
5050
4040
3030
2020
Virtual
Virtual World Group
HPS
HPS Group
1010
00
11
22
33
44
55
RatingScale
Scale(1=low;
(1=low;5=high)
5=high)
Rating
. . . training in a Virtual World
In conclusion

New educational tools are:




Immersive and interactive
Action oriented with role playing
Representing authentic work situations
Current learning technologies:
Virtual worlds parallel the real world
 Afford practice with virtual-real patients –
with physiology, at a low cost, anytime,
anywhere
 Allow ‘what-if?’ scenarios that prevent mistakes
and improve safety in the real world

Thank you, APAN !

http://summit.stanford.edu/

Wm. LeRoy Heinrichs
Professor (Emeritus) of Ob/Gyn / SUMMIT

Colleagues at SUMMIT – Pat Youngblood
Sean Kung, Robert Cheng, Kingsley Willis,
Parvati Dev
Colleagues at Forterra Systems – Laura
Kusumoto, Arnold Hendrick, Steve
Hanstead
