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Emerging Roles of Virtual Patients in the Age of AI

2019; American Medical Association; Volume: 21; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1001/amajethics.2019.153

2376-6980

C. Donald Combs, Philip Combs,

Innovations in Medical Education

Today's web-enabled and virtual approach to medical education is different from the 20th century's Flexner-dominated approach.Now, lectures get less emphasis and more emphasis is placed on learning via early clinical exposure, standardized patients, and other simulations.This article reviews literature on virtual patients (VPs) and their underlying virtual reality technology, examines VPs' potential through the example of psychiatric intake teaching, and identifies promises and perils posed by VP use in medical education. Virtual Patients in Medical EducationOver the past 20 years, a revolution has taken place in the use of health care simulation.Technological advances in computational power, graphics, display systems, tracking, interface technology, haptic devices, authoring software, and artificial intelligence (AI) have supported creation of low-cost, user-friendly virtual reality (VR) technology and virtual patients (VPs).2][3] VPs represent a fusion of simulation technologies and VR, which is generally defined as "a three-dimensional, computer-generated environment which can be explored and interacted with by a person." 4