Virtual Patient For Dentistry

Presented by Luke McGowan @Turbo T.E.L. 15th June 2011

About PCMD• Peninsula Medical School started in 2002

• Partnership: Universities of Plymouth and Exeter and the NHS

• Distributed across a wide area: Truro, Plymouth, Exeter, Torbay

and

Barnstaple

• Investment in eLearning infrastructure, staffing and online support which

delivers:

Learning resources, Information, communications, content

• PCMD now delivers medical, dental, clinical science and post graduate

• Innovative, integrated curriculum in all programmes

• High expectation of development of IT literacy in both staff and students

Background to Virtual Patient

VP prototype developed & pitched to Clinical Skills Group in 2007

Dental School's Head of Yr 4 (Matt Jerreat) saw opportunity to use VP to improve treatment planning skills

Developed suite of 5 VP cases (+1 dummy) for final year students based on Matt’s case studies

Innovative - VPs not widely used within dental education

Benefits of Virtual Patients

Interactive, hands-on, learn from mistakes in safe environment

Retry on demand, online 24/7 access

Access patients who are otherwise unavailablee.g. hypodontia, bruxism, cancer, facial palsy, cleft palate

Not a replacement for regular human patient contact

Question and examine patients, order tests, chart teethMake diagnosis and treatment plan (multiple solutions)Submit for assessment > reflect upon results, discuss w/ tutorsRetry, view a treatment summary & video reflection by patient

Student Feedback

(Anonymous vote via Turning Point)

95% of students said they found using the Virtual Patient to be a beneficial learning process

89% felt the VP is a valid way of experiencing patient caseswhich would otherwise be unavailable during their studies

92% students would recommend the VP to other students or dentists

Student Feedback

87% said they valued the opportunity to diagnose and treat complex patient cases within a ‘safe’ environment

95% students wanted access to additional cases, to look at in their own time

Student Feedback

Some users found it hard to use the system

Only 46% students found in-built reflection facility useful

100% in favour of ‘wrap-up’ sessions taking place on same day

Student Feedback

“I find the VPs a very useful learning tool and a good opportunity to treat patients I wouldn't otherwise meet.”

“I thought it was great to be able to repeat the test and adjust things.”“Revised treatment planning and diagnosis is a really good concept.”“It means you can practice without having a Patient there.”

“I like it that he actually speaks to you… kind of in the way a patient would actually say it to you a lot of the time..”

“A good way to quickly see many different cases and practice diagnosis and treatment planning.”

Future Plans for VP

Year 4 now completedNew cases, inc. final year student exit cases

Treatment costs & targets

Improved interface and 'ease of use'

Same day 'wrap-up', more relaxed – formative assessment

ALT-C, JISC Guide to Emerging Practice in a Digital Age

Recommendations for Similar Projects

Test as much as possible on different groups of people

Gather feedback – be concise & specific, make it easy, avoid 'overkill' but ask the 'scary' questions

Get staff and students to ‘buy-in’ as early as possible

Real patient footage (not 3d), lot of effort, increases engagement

Make sure users know their feedback is being used(66% of students noticed improvements)

Questions?

luke.mcgowan@pms.ac.uk