A growing number of medical & healthcare institutes and colleges widely accept simulation in healthcare education. Different medical simulators vary in accuracy to emulate real-world environments and development or acquisition costs.
There is substantial evidence that supports the implementation and use of high-fidelity simulation tools, such as dummies and mannequins. The purpose is to prepare students for real-world clinical scenarios.
However, institutions rarely use virtual patients simulators that cost less than mannequins and dummies. Virtual patients develop numerous interactive clinical scenarios based on computer algorithms, promoting an alternative learning environment and allowing students to enhance their clinical skills. Read on!
The Importance of Virtual Patient Simulation
Virtual patients are interactive computer simulations of real-world clinical environments. Institutions can use virtual patients for medical & healthcare training, education, and assessment.
For instance, a nursing simulation allows students to perform various injection techniques, learn proper venipuncture methods, and enhance their blood-taking skills.
Similarly, medical students can use virtual pediatric patients to practice diagnoses and treatments. Virtual patients offer a wide range of benefits to medical students, including a reduction in training variability and increasing standardization.
Besides, educators can easily customize virtual patients and encourage students to use computer-based simulations for immediate feedback. Students can also build and practice their confidence in a safe environment before they work with real patients.
Moreover, virtual patients are an excellent choice for medical & healthcare educators and students in scenarios of ethical reasons.
So, we recommend medical students use virtual patients to improve their skills without putting real patients at risk.
Increased Safety
Virtual patients have the ability to simulate a comprehensive patient encounter, allowing students to go through the history, exam, and differentials to diagnosis and treatment.
In addition, virtual patients in an immersive environment can be low fidelity or high fidelity depending on the nature of the simulation and the learning you are trying to achieve.
The good news is that advanced virtual patients can even respond to questions. With our Childbirth VR simulation, the student Midwife can chat to the mother throughout the labor and the mother will respond.
Students can make mistakes, determine the weak points in their practice, and implement methods to improve their skills in a safe and immersive environment. Remember, repeated encounters with virtual patients can lead to successful medical & healthcare practice.
Integrated Learning
Integrate learning is an essential part of medical & healthcare education that focuses on teamwork exercises while using a rich media library and immersive VR technology for training and assessments. That way, students can learn how to deal with different medical &healthcare scenarios.
Interacting with virtual patients in an immersive environment allows students to get real-time feedback from the system, such as the incorrect and incomplete decisions they make and how to fix them immediately.
The purpose is to help medical &healthcare students improve their diagnostic competencies, improvise under challenging scenarios, and improve their clinical judgment skills.
So, with virtual patients, medical & healthcare students can experience repeatable, safe, and fully-graded encounters to their VR-based devices at any time with virtual patient simulation app. All this translates to integrated learning.
Final Words
Virtual patients are an integral part of VR-based medical simulation that enhances students’ outcomes because they recreate a specific environment where learners feel safe and work effectively.
Not only does this improve students' technical abilities, but it also enhances cognitive and behavioral skills. That way, students are better prepared for real-world clinical environments and patient encounters.
FAQs
What are virtual patients used for?
Virtual patients are used to providing medical students with an opportunity to practice their clinical skills in a safe and controlled environment.
By using virtual patients, students can gain experience taking medical histories, performing physical examinations, and making diagnoses without worrying about causing any harm to actual patients.
Additionally, virtual patients can teach students about rare or difficult-to-treat conditions that they might not otherwise have the opportunity to learn about.
What does a patient simulator do?
A patient simulator is a machine used to create a realistic experience for medical
students. It can be used to simulate various medical scenarios, from childbirth to heart attacks.
Does simulation improve patient outcomes?
Simulation allows for the practice of procedures and protocols before they are performed on patients, leading to improved safety and effectiveness.
Simulation can help to reduce errors and improve communication among healthcare providers.