title: Implementation of virtual online patient simulation.
abstract: The development and use of virtual patients has become more expansive. Previous strategies to aid their development have been described to aid their formation. This study describes the development of a series of virtual patients following a methodology proposed by Posel et al [1]. Ten virtual patients with surgical pathology were developed using a reproducible framework. This article serves to guide virtual patient authors as a working description of virtual patient design in order to assist them for future virtual patient development.
authors.affiliation: Division of Surgery, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, St Mary's Hospital, London, UK. vpatel20@imperial.ac.uk
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Patel
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Darzi
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D020407:Internet; D008954:Models, Biological; D009862:Online Systems; D014584:User-Computer Interface