MedU at AMEE

Association for Medical Education in Europe
September 4-8, 2010
Glasgow, UK

MedU will be represented at the AMEE eLearning Symposium in a Plenary panel presentation. Dr. Martin Fischer (Witten/Herdecke University in Germany) will chair the session joined by panelists Dr. Terry Poulton (St. Georges University in London), and Dr. Norm Berman (Dartmouth Medical School and MedU Editor-in-Chief).

Additionally, Dr. Berman will demonstrate iInTIME's collaborative development and maintenance model at a Secrets of Success presentation at AMEE.

MedU at MedBiquitous Annual Conference

2nd International Conference on Virtual Patients
County Hall, London


Secrets of Creating and Maintaining Virtual Patient Case Collections
Monday, April 26, 2010

In their presentation entitled Secrets of Creating and Maintaining Virtual Patient Case Collections, Dr. Martin Fischer from Witten/Herdecke University in Germany and Dr. Norm Berman, Executive Director of the Institute for Innovative Technology In Medical Education and MedU Editor-in-Chief, discussed the importance of developing and maintaining curriculum based virtual patient cases (VPs) as well as the importance of integrating VPs effectively at the program level. In addition to suggestions for overcoming potential integration barriers, Drs. Fischer and Berman highlighted opportunities for VPs to cover the curriculum and addressed the impact different learning styles have on integration.

fmCASES at STFM’s Annual Spring Conference

How to Integrate fmCASES Into Your Clerkship, Seminar S15

Sunday, April 25, 2010 at 4:00 PM

MedU's Family Medicine Computer-Assisted Simulations for Educating Students (fmCASES) will be hosting an integration seminar at STFM's Spring Meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia from April 24 to 28. This seminar will begin with a presentation on published and effective methods for integrating e-learning into the traditional curriculum including a demonstration of the online Family Medicine Computer-assisted Simulations for Educating Students (fmCASES). The group will also highlight additional resources available in the fmCASES Instructors' Area, effective strategies for using the cases within the clerkship, and the use of final exam questions based on the cases. Common barriers and effective methods for implementing pediatric CLIPP and internal medicine SIMPLE cases will be shared and participants will be encouraged to explore potential opportunities and impediments to implementing fmCASES at their own schools. For more information, please visit the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine. You can also find fmCASES at the STFM Village!

fmCASES Editorial Board Members and Seminar presenters include: Jason Chao, MD, MS; Shou Ling Leong, MD; John Waits, MD; Stephen Scott, MD, MPH; Alexander Chessman, MD; Leslie Fall, MD

WISE MD at Surgical Education Week 2010

The practical application of on line educational tools to the Surgical Clerkship:  a user’s guide to WISE-MD and the PowerPoint Teaching Modules.

Friday, April 23 at 1:30 PM and again at 3:30 PM

This workshop is designed to help clerkship directors to incorporate WISE-MD and the Association of Surgical Education (ASE) PowerPoint Teaching Modules for more effective integration of such computer-assisted learning innovations into their clerkship.  With learners’ and educators’ time at a premium, these tools allow for flexibility and cover a wide range of topics.  Participants will discover ways in which these tools can enhance and broaden learner knowledge, enable educators to cover a wide range of topics in both small and large group formats, and permit ongoing assessment and feedback to the learners.  We will also encourage those clerkship directors currently using these tools to share their experiences with, and thoughts on the surgical modules. This workshop will help to benefit both novice and experienced educators  

You can also stop by and see us at Booth #14 in the exhibit hall. We will be happy to tell you more about our surgical modules and answer any questions you have about integrating them into your clerkship.

CLIPP at COMSEP 2010

MedU's Computer-assisted Learning in Pediatrics Program (CLIPP) will be featured in workshops at the 2010 Council on Medical Student Education in Pediatrics (COMSEP) Annual Meeting in Albuquerque, New Mexico from March 25 to 28. If you're interested in learning more about MedU virtual patient cases or how to integrate them into your clerkship curriculum, please consider attending one of the following workshops:

  • Friday, March 26 from 1:30 to 3 pm: Strategies and Tools to Teach About the Medical Home: Professionalism, Culture, and Communication. This workshop, led by Jerold Woodhead, M.D., eCLIPPs Co-Project Director, will focus on the family-centered partnership that is central to the Medical Home identifying gaps in the curriculum at individual schools regarding Medical Home components by introducing different teaching models and comparing and contrasting the models.
  • Saturday, March 27 from 9 to 11 am: Coordinating With CLIPP: Meeting the Needs of the Clerkship. iInTIME, creator of CLIPP and MedU, together with Donnita Pelser, Clerkship Coordinator from Kansas University School of Medicine, will provide instruction and lead discussion and idea sharing to help maximize the benefits and efficiency of using CLIPP in your clerkship.

fmCASES at 2010 STFM Meeting

MedU's Family Medicine Computer-Assisted Simulations for Educating Students (fmCASES) will be attending STFM's 36th Annual Predoctoral Education Conference from January 28 to 31 in Jacksonville, Florida. If you're interested in learning more about fmCASES' virtual patient cases or how to integrate them into your clerkship curriculum, please join the fmCASES Development Group for an integration workshop on Saturday, January 30 at 11:15 a.m. (Session S6) or visit us at our information table throughout the meeting. You can also learn all about how the cases were developed and hear the latest feedback received from students and faculty during Friday's poster session beginning at 7:15 a.m. (Posters P54 & P53). For more information, please visit the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine.

MedU at AAMC 2009

MedU will be exhibiting at the AAMC National Meeting in Boston from November 6 through 11, 2009. If you're interested in learning more about our virtual patient cases in Pediatrics (CLIPP), Internal Medicine (SIMPLE), Family Medicine (fmCASES), Surgery (WiseMD) or how to integrate them into your clerkship curriculum, please visit us at booth 230 in the exhibition hall. For more information about the conference, please visit the Association of American Medical Colleges.

SIMPLE at CDIM 2009

MedU's Simulated Internal Medicine Patient Learning Experience (SIMPLE) will be exhibiting at the CDIM National Meeting, part of Academic Internal Medicine Week, in Philadelphia from October 22 to 24. If you're interested in learning more about SIMPLE virtual patient cases or how to integrate them into your clerkship curriculum, please visit us in the exhibition hall. For more information, please visit the Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine.

fmCASES Now Available for Pilot Testing

The fmCASES are here and ready for ‘no fee’ pilot testing!

Family Medicine educators are realizing a dream with fmCASES, a set of online cases to teach the core curriculum of the family medicine clerkship. iInTIME released 8 of 29 cases for pilot testing through the MedU website on July 1, 2009.  This number continues to grow as case development is finalized. fmCASES are available free of charge to all CLIPP, SIMPLE and WISE-MD subscribers and upon request by non-subscribers subscribers involved in medical education. The cases will remain available for use, without a fee, until subscriptions begin in July of 2010. During the pilot phase, an on-line evaluation form is provided at the conclusion of each case. Simultaneous to the pilot testing process is an extensive peer review of each of the cases, involving both medical content and pedagogical experts from the field.  During this time, the cases will continue to be refined.

fmCASES will build clinical competency, fill educational gaps, and model the core values of family medicine. The cases will also help clerkship directors meet LCME’s ED-2 and ED-8 standards. Using the FMCR (Family Medicine Curriculum Resource), NBME Task Force curriculum topics, and the Future of Family Medicine as resources, these cases were carefully designed to cover common topics for the Family Medicine Clerkship. fmCASES fosters self-directed and independent study, emphasizes and models clinical problem-solving, and teaches an evidence-based and generalist approach to patient care.  Each case is designed to draw the learner into the encounter, through dialog, questions, and answers. Diagnostic networks stimulate clinical reasoning and critical thinking.

fmCASES is designed for use by third-year medical students and can also be an excellent learning tool for many other health care professionals. If you are interested in accessing the cases or serving as a peer reviewer and have not yet contacted us, please do so by clicking here: www.med-u.org/support/ask_medu_support

To learn more about fmCASES and other iInTIME projects including information on individual cases or their extensive development through strategic partnerships, please visit their new home at http://www.med-u.org. For more information about the iInTIME organization and its unique approach to delivering effective medical education through computer assisted learning applications, please visit www.i-intime.org.

MedU Pilots Multi-Disciplinary Cases

Virtual patient cases teaching cultural sensitivity and provider-patient partnership building ready for no-fee pilot testing!

eCLIPPs, a set of online cases to teach cultural sensitivity as well as provider-patient and provider-family partnership building techniques was released for pilot testing on July 1, 2009.  Initially, 3 cases were offered, but this number continues to grow as case development is finalized. eCLIPPs cases are available free of charge to all CLIPP, SIMPLE and WISE-MD subscribers and upon request by non-subscribers involved in medical education. During the pilot phase, an on-line evaluation form is provided at the conclusion of each case. Simultaneous to the pilot testing process is an extensive peer review of each of the cases, involving both medical content and pedagogical experts from the field.  During this time, the cases will continue to be refined.

Through interactive and printable tools, eCLIPPs cases brings ‘culture in health’, ‘family centered partnership’, and ‘navigating the healthcare system’ concepts to the clinical bedside. eCLIPPs’ virtual cases promote cultural understanding, offer communications practice, and encourage self-reflection around students’ own biases and barriers to optimal ‘bedside’ performance.

eCLIPPs originally designed for CLIPP’s pediatric medical student users, has expanded its focus to MedU's virtual patient cases in family (fmCASES) and internal (SIMPLE). eCLIPPs offers interactive and experiential education in providing accessible, continuous, comprehensive, family centered, coordinated, compassionate and culturally effective primary care across disciplines.

To learn more about eCLIPPs and other MedU virtual patient cases and modules including information on individual cases or their extensive development through strategic partnerships, please visit www.med-u.org. For more information about the iInTIME organization and its unique approach to delivering effective medical education through computer assisted learning applications, please visit www.i-intime.org.

The 2009 STFM President’s Award goes to the fmCASES Project!

Each year the STFM President's Award is used to recognize STFM members who have made a significant contribution during the president's year in office or members who have had a significant impact on the president during his/her term. We are happy to announce that this year, the award went to the fmCASES Project Development Group (fmPDG) for their work on the fmCASES project!  We are all very thankful for their hard work and know that this award represents a tremendous accomplishment for the project leaders, authors, iInTIME, and their collaborators. Congratulations to all.

SIMPLE moves to subscription model for 2009/2010 academic year

iInTIME would like to welcome all the new subscribers to the Simulated Internal Medicine Patient Learning Experience (SIMPLE)!  As many of you may know, the SIMPLE project is transitioning from its pilot testing phase into a subscription model for the 2009/2010 academic year.  We have been very excited so far with the healthy number of schools who have already signed on to use the cases.  If you are interested in subscribing and have not yet contacted us, please email (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to learn more.

As we move towards the beginning of the subscription period on July 1st, the SIMPLE project development group is busy putting the final touches on the cases.  Currently, 27 of the 36 cases are available for immediate use.  We expect most, if not all, of the remaining cases to be ready by the beginning of the subscriptions.

CLIPP Editorial Board welcomes new Editors-in-Chief and Associate Editors

The 2009 COMSEP meeting in Baltimore was a momentous occasion for the CLIPP Editorial Board.  Drs. Leslie Fall and Norman Berman (Dartmouth Medical School), the founding Editors-in-Chief of the CLIPP project, stepped down and officially passed on leadership of the CLIPP Editorial Board to Drs. Michael Dell (Case Western Reserve University) and Sherilyn Smith (University of Washington).  Drs. Dell and Smith have been integral components of CLIPP’s present success, and we all look forward to the valuable new perspectives and energy they will bring to the future development of the cases!

In addition to welcoming new Editors-in-Chief, the CLIPP Editorial Board also welcomed three new Associate Editors: Dr. Robert Drucker (Duke University), Dr. Starla Martinez (Northeast Ohio University), and Dr. Elizabeth Stuart (Stanford University). Robert, Starla, and Elizabeth join Drs. David Levine (Morehouse Medical School), Lisa Leggio (Medical College of Georgia), and Gary Freed, M.D. (Emory University).  These new associate editors will also play a very important roll in not only maintaining the currency of medical content in the cases but introducing new innovations for students and instructors. 

Over the next 12 months, the CLIPP Editorial Board plans to complete a comprehensive review of the case content in order to move the cases towards their third complete edition.  This review will include focused attention to expanding resources for instructors and improving case elements such as the networks and question types.  Some of the original case authors will also be stepping down and new case editors will be brought on to add further value to the cases.  We look forward to their contributions as well.

How do students feel about WISE-MD?

In a recent survey of WISE-MD users, at least 75% of respondents found that WISE-MD:

  • Enhanced their ability to recognize the signs and symptoms of disease.
  • Helped them to prepare for clinical activities during their surgery clerkship.
  • Enhanced their understanding of surgical techniques and anatomy.
  • Made them more eager to learn about the diseases presented in the modules.
  • Enabled them to learn about signs, symptoms, and management of diseases they were not otherwise exposed to during their clerkship.

Across the surveys, students expressed their appreciation for the rich, comprehensive, and accessible content, availability for just-in-time learning, and the thorough explanations by faculty of their clinical reasoning.

WISE-MD Modules

WISE-MD, a series of web-based modules designed specifically for the surgical education of medical students, was initially developed at New York University (NYU) Medical Center. Although production continues to be at NYU, content development is now in the hands of an editorial board of nationally-renowned surgical educators in conjunction with the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the Association for Surgical Education (ASE).

In April of 2009, iInTIME and WISE-MD formed a partnership as a means to distribute these modules and advance medical education through collaboration with national leaders in computer-assisted instruction. To accommodate an increasing number of requests for access from teaching institutions, WISE-MD is moving from its pilot study phase to a subscription model beginning July, 2009. New features, such as self-assessment questions and case-based final assessments, will be added to enhance the modules. It is our belief that this unique partnership will help build a sustainable future for virtual patient cases and instruction for medical students across disciplines.   

fmCASES Project Development Group

fmCASES, Family Medicine Clerkship Curriculum Resources, Project Development Group (fmPDG) convened in Lebanon in August of 2008 along with the iInTIME leaders and staff. The meeting was the first official gathering of the group, who used this time to determine the goals and learning objectives of the case as well as the overall project timeline. It was decided that fmCASES will include cases from CLIPP and SIMPLE to minimize redundancy and complete the comprehensive coverage of the family medicine curricula.

Following a successful authoring workshop at the STFM meeting in Savannah, the fmPDG is now actively working with authors to finalize drafts, edit content, and implement the iInTIME Learning System (ILS) across all of the cases.  The work completed so far is very exciting!  Once the drafts are complete, we plan to make the cases available for free through pilot testing beginning July 1st, 2009.  The cases will remain available for use, free of charge, until subscriptions begin in July of 2010.  Simultaneous to the pilot testing process will be an extensive peer review of each of the cases, involving both medical content and pedagogical experts from the field.  During this time, the cases will continue to be refined.

If you are interested in becoming involved in the pilot testing or peer review processes, please contact us at (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). We welcome you to become part of this important initiative!

SIMPLE pilot testing

SIMPLE was released for pilot testing on July 1, 2008.  Initially, 10 internal medicine cases were offered, but this number continues to grow as case development is finalized. To date 43 institutions have requested access to SIMPLE and have reported consistently positive feedback from students. Concomitant to pilot testing, the SIMPLE cases are also being peer reviewed by both a content and pedagogical expert, verifying the medical content is up-to-date and accurate and the case is designed to teach third-year medical students effectively.

At the AAIM meeting in Orlando in October, 2008, the SPDG hosted a very successful integration workshop, guiding medical educators on the most effective methods to integrate the cases into their clerkships. iInTIME continues to work closely with each project development group to enhance the tools available to clerkship directors and instructors.

The SPDG is also actively seeking out research opportunities, so stay tuned for future news!

CLIPP Editorial Board

The Editorial Board held its 2008 fall meeting September 8-10 in Lebanon, New Hampshire. The board said goodbye to long-term members, Dr. William Wilson and Dr. Roger Berkow, and welcomed Dr. Lisa Leggio and Dr. Gary Freed as their newest members. The board discussed the completion of case revisions by the end of 2008 and the impending move of the CLIPP cases to the new version of CASUS in December. For next year, the board has begun implementing a more consistent approach to common case features, such as key teaching points and pre- and post-networks, which will enhance the functionality, effectiveness, and interactivity of the cases in the new CASUS software.