Volume 26, Issue 125, July 2022

Use of virtual patients in orthopedic teaching as an adjuvant tool to clinical training for medical students

Bandar A Alghamdi

Department of Surgery, College of Medicine in Al-Qunfudhah, Umm AlQura University, Al-Qunfudhah 28814, Makkah, Saudi Arabia

ABSTRACT

Background: Virtual patients are a valuable tool that can be used besides clinical teaching for medical students' education. The purpose of this study was to assess the educational benefit of using virtual patients in the orthopedic field for the clinical teaching of medical students. Methods: One hundred eighty-seven undergraduate medical students, 99 male, and 88 female from the college of medicine in Al-Qunfudhah, university of Umm Al-Qura, from level 3 till level 6, who finished the orthopedic course, were recruited in this cross-sectional study after their acceptance to participate. Each student had the same validated virtual patient questionnaire to assess their learning and clinical reasoning experiences with virtual patients. Results: Regarding the items of the questionnaire regarding the virtual case teaching: in the 1st item, 80% of students agree with the “Authenticity of the patient encounters and the consultation” while 5.8% of students disagree. In the 2nd item, 79.1% of students agree with the “Professional approach in the consultation” and 5.8% disagree. In the 3rd item, 83.9% of students agree with the “Coaching during the consultation” and 2.1% disagree. In the 4th item, 54.5% agree with the “Learning effect of consultation” while 5.8% disagree and 36.8% are neutral. Finally, there is no significance between the different student levels in their response. Conclusions: Virtual patients had a favorable effect on medical students and can be carried out as a supportive tool in clinical teaching to achieve maximum educational benefit.

Keywords: Virtual patient, clinical education, patient safety, medical students

Medical Science, 2022, 26, ms264e2356

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.54905/disssi/v26i125/ms264e2356

Published: 04 July 2022