Study of the Impact of Virtual Patient Designs on the Reasoning Pattern and Therapeutic Decision Making - Full Text View

Sponsored by:	Karolinska Institutet
Information provided by:	Karolinska Institutet
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00474474

Purpose

There is a lack of evidence of the impact of the information provided in the introduction screen on the students diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. The reasoning pattern may also be altered if positive findings are provided to the student without an active request for it.

The results will be of importance when virtual patients are used for assessing students.

Condition	Intervention
Decision Making Computer-Assisted	Procedure: Virtual patient is NOT introduced

U.S. FDA Resources

Study Type:	Interventional
Study Design:	Randomized, Double-Blind, Active Control, Single Group Assignment, Efficacy Study
Official Title:	Study of the Impact of How the Virtual Patient's Anamnesis is Designed on the Reasoning Pattern and Therapeutic Decision Making

Further study details as provided by Karolinska Institutet:

Primary Outcome Measures:

therapeutic decision making [ Time Frame: 1 hour ]

Secondary Outcome Measures:

Medical history reasoning (required/unnecessary) [ Time Frame: 1 hour ]
Time allocation to the different phases in solving a VP [ Time Frame: 1 hour ]

Enrollment:	58
Study Start Date:	February 2007
Study Completion Date:	March 2007

Detailed Description:

The problem-solving approach is found in virtual patient designs concerned with teaching clinical reasoning and diagnosis. Generally the student has to collect a range of information, usually from menus of possible history questions, physical examination, and lab tests, and make diagnostic and therapeutic decisions based on their findings. The information is not cued - the student have to decide what is relevant. An introduction screen is shown to the student when the virtual patient is initiated. Case author have used it differently - some entered a complete chief complaint and part of anamnesis findings while other have not disclosed anything about the patient. There is a lack of evidence of the impact of the information provided in the introduction screen on the students diagnostic and therapeutic decisions. The reasoning pattern may also be altered if positive findings are provided to the student without an active request for it.

The results will be of importance when virtual patients are used for assessing students.

Eligibility

Genders Eligible for Study:	Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:	Yes

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

All the students enrolled in the comprehensive dentistry course at the time of the study (2007)

Contacts and Locations

Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00474474

Locations

Sweden
School of dentistry, Karolinska Institutet
Stockholm, Sweden, 17177

Sponsors and Collaborators

Karolinska Institutet

Investigators

Principal Investigator:

Uno Fors

LIME, Karolinska Institutet

More Information

Project website This link exits the ClinicalTrials.gov site

Publications:

Zary N, Johnson G, Boberg J, Fors UG. Development, implementation and pilot evaluation of a Web-based Virtual Patient Case Simulation environment--Web-SP. BMC Med Educ. 2006 Feb 21;6:10.

Study ID Numbers:	VP-02-001
Study First Received:	May 16, 2007
Last Updated:	May 16, 2007
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:	NCT00474474
Health Authority:	Sweden: Regional Ethical Review Board

Keywords provided by Karolinska Institutet:

virtual patient
therapeutic decision making

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on February 06, 2009