title: The Use of Simulation to Teach Suicide Risk Assessment to Health Profession Trainees-Rationale, Methodology, and a Proof of Concept Demonstration with a Virtual Patient.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is increasing use of educational technologies in medical and surgical specialties. Described herein is the development and application of an interactive virtual patient (VP) to teach suicide risk assessment to health profession trainees. We studied the effect of the following: (1) an interaction with a bipolar VP who attempts suicide or (2) completion of a video-teaching module on interviewing a bipolar patient, on medical students' proficiency in assessing suicide risk in standardized patients. We hypothesized that students who interact with a bipolar VP will be at least as likely to assess suicide risk, as their peers who completed a video module.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a randomized, controlled study, we compared the frequency with which second-year students at the Medical College of Georgia asked suicide risk and bipolar symptoms questions by VP/video group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We recruited 67 students. The VP group inquired more frequently than the video group in 4 of 5 suicide risk areas and 11 of 14 other bipolar symptomatology areas. There were minimal to small effect sizes in favor of the VP technology. The students preferred the video over the VP as an educational tool (p = 0.007).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study provides proof of concept that both VP and video module approaches are feasible for teaching students to assess suicide risk, and we present evidence about the role of active learning to improve communication skills. Depending on the learning context, interviewing a VP or observation of a videotaped interview can enhance the students' suicide risk assessment proficiency in an interview with a standardized patient. An interactive VP is a plausible modality to deliver basic concepts of suicide risk assessment to medical students, can facilitate individual preferences by providing easy access and portability, and has potential generalizability to other aspects of psychiatric training.
authors.affiliation: Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, USA. afoster@gru.edu.
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Foster
authors.affiliation: Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Neelam
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Chaudhary
authors.affiliation: Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.affiliation: University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Lok
authors.affiliation: Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Waller
authors.affiliation: Medical College of Georgia at Georgia Regents University, Augusta, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Peter F
authors.initials: PF
authors.lastname: Buckley
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D003194:Computer-Assisted Instruction / Q000379:methods*; D004501:Education, Medical / Q000379:methods*; D018961:Educational Technology / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D018794:Problem-Based Learning / Q000379:methods*; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D000066908:Simulation Training / Q000592:standards*; D013405:Suicide; D014584:User-Computer Interface; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Communication Checklist; Suicide risk; Video; Virtual patient