Minnesota Virtual Clinic Software for Medical Education

Virtual Medical Records Promote Medical Learning of Health Conditions and Treatment

Minnesota Virtual Clinic is a web-based medical education software tool that uses simulated electronic medical records to expose students to basic science and clinical concepts in the context of patient care. Students apply the theories and practice what they have learned in class to the simulated patient cases. The Minnesota Virtual Clinic was designed to represent the nature of patient care as a long-term continuous development. The Virtual Clinic enrolls a group of virtual patients that represent a variety of conditions and cultural backgrounds. Patient information is revealed in the virtual medical records in real-time as the virtual patient's condition or signs develop, simulating realistic medical care and treatment.

Medical Education Software

The Minnesota Virtual Clinic is a web-based medical learning tool that simulates a weeklong view of activities in a medical office where students participate in the ongoing care of a group of virtual patients. Each component of information in the medical record system is associated with a teaching point and explanation. The teaching points are linked to web pages that contain expositions on the topic related to an item (such as a disease diagnosis), questions for students, and definitions for illustrative images. The Minnesota Virtual Clinic's purpose is to enhance students' medical education with the continuum of medical care and provide a means to link scientific concepts to clinical case details.

Virtual Medical Records

The simulated medical records contain information about virtual patients that includes: chief complaints, demographic information, medical history, progress notes from various forms of history, physical briefs of visits, and laboratory values and images. By revealing simulated patient information during a one-week period, the Minnesota Virtual Clinic reproduces the natural evolution of patient health and disease. Other case-based technologies in medical education present a case at a single point in time. These technologies do not accurately represent the time-dependent nature of health and disease because they look at each case retrospectively. The medical education software provides an introduction to certain informatics and practices, including basic security and the use of electronic medical records for patient care.

FEATURES AND BENEFITS OF MINNESOTA VIRTUAL CLINIC MEDICAL EDUCATION SOFTWARE:

• Simulated Medical Records for Virtual Patients