Secrets of Creating and Maintaining Virtual Patient Case CollectionsNorm Berman1; Martin Fischer2 DescriptionThere has been great interest in using computer-supported learning approaches in medical education, but getting e-learning materials used broadly has been difficult to achieve. An array of pedagocical theories has been applied to adoption of technological innovation in education, but these theories are not specific to the setting of medical education. We describe a successful model for collaborative development and maintenance of virtual patient cases in medical education. The collaborative model incorporates six key components: 1) multi-institutional authoring to achieve comprehensive coverage of a nationally accepted curriculum, 2) a consistent pedagogical approach, 3) resources for integrating the program in the curriculum, 4) maintenance of the content, 5) support for the academic needs of medical educators, and 6) a support infrastructure. The collaborative development and maintenance model that began with the Computer-assisted Leaning In Pediatrics Program (CLIPP) is now extended to Internal Medicine and Family medicine through partnerships with their respective clerkship director organizations. We believe that the ability to successfully transition virtual patients from grant funding to sustainable and broadly used programs is a direct result of the collaborative process. This process of collaborative development and maintenance can be transferred in other learning environments and for development other types of e-learning programs.
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