Publications

A Collaborative Model for Developing and Maintaining Virtual Patients for Medical Education. Medical Teacher 2011; 33:319-324 Berman NB, Fall LH, Chessman AW, Dell MR, Lang VJ, Leong SL, Nixon LJ, Smith S

There is great interest in using computer-assisted instruction in medical education, but getting computer-assisted instruction materials used broadly is difficult to achieve. We describe a successful model for collaborative development and maintenance of a specific type of computer-assisted instruction - virtual patients - in medical education. The collaborative model incorporates seven key components: 1) comprehensive coverage of a nationally accepted curriculum, 2) collaborative multi-institutional authoring, 3) a consistent pedagogical approach, 4) resources for integrating the program in the curriculum, 5) support for the academic needs of medical educators, 6) maintenance of the content, and 7) a support infrastructure. The collaborative development model that began with the Computer-assisted Leaning In Pediatrics Program (CLIPP) is now extended to Internal Medicine and Family Medicine clerkships, through partnerships with their respective clerkship director organizations. We believe that the ability to achieve broad use of virtual patients, and to transition the programs successfully from grant funded to sustainable, resulted directly from the collaborative process. This process of collaborative development and maintenance of virtual patient cases can be used in other learning environments and for development of other types of computer-assisted instruction programs.