Developing clinical skills using a virtual patient simulator in a resource-limited setting.
OBJECTIVE
to measure the effect of training with a virtual patient (VP) simulation system on clinical skills of healthcare professionals in Africa.


METHODS
A randomized controlled intervention was carried out at Yaounde Central Hospital (Cameroon). The intervention consisted of two groups training on one of the two clinical vignettes implemented in the VP simulator. Four actors were trained to play standardized patient (SP) roles. The clinical skills (performance score) of participants were assessed on both clinical vignettes using these SPs.


RESULTS
Twenty medical students from FMSB were recruited. The difference in overall score was observed between participants who received training from the VP system (higher average) and those who did not receive the training (lower average). This difference is statistically significant, especially when the focus is on participants' scores in the relevant items for proper management of the case.


CONCLUSIONS
This study suggests that the training with a medical consultation VP simulator can develop the operational clinical skills of the user.
Division of eHealth and Telemedicine, Geneva University Hospitals and Geneva University, Switzerland.
Georges
G
Bediang
Caroline
C
Franck
Marc-André
MA
Raetzo
Jascha
J
Doell
Marième
M
Ba
Yannick
Y
Kamga
Frédéric
F
Baroz
Antoine
A
Geissbuhler
D002163:Cameroon; D002983:Clinical Competence; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods*; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods; D058005:General Practitioners / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D016544:Patient Simulation; D066230:Patient-Specific Modeling; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*; D014584:User-Computer Interface