i-Human enables new ways to teach and assess competency in focused patient examination skills
November 12, 2014 11:30 AM Eastern Standard Time
SUNNYVALE, Calif.—i-Human Patients, Inc. (IHP) is partnering with nine expert U.S. medical educators through a grant sponsored by the American Medical Association (AMA) to strengthen the effectiveness of medical education programs. The nine experts are collaborating to develop innovative methods for teaching patient history and physical examination skills using the i-Human Patients® virtual patient platform.
Medical students often have difficulty applying discrete skills learned in the classroom to a clinical setting, especially in determining how and when to perform focused history and physical examinations for a given complaint. The project gathers educators from the nation’s top medical schools to address this ongoing challenge through new modes of learning.
The [highlights]Core + Clusters Physical Exam[/highlights] curriculum focuses on teaching a core set of physical exam maneuvers followed by teaching advanced maneuvers through clusters—groupings of clinically contextualized interview questions paired with related physical assessments. This methodology teaches relevant approaches to patient history and physical examination and helps to develop clinical reasoning skills.
“i-Human offers students a more thorough understanding of physical exams by developing their diagnostic reasoning in a clinical context,” said Norm Wu, CEO of IHP.” With one in 20 U.S. adult outpatients misdiagnosed every year, there’s an opportunity to reimagine medical education to better prepare future doctors for real-world patient encounters. As a part of this AMA-supported collaborative of medical educators, i-Human is helping to advance critical diagnostic competencies, reduce the number of unnecessary medical tests, and better prepare the next generation of physicians to improve patient outcomes.”
The i-Human platform’s active learning environment uses a computer-animated patient to cultivate diagnostic reasoning skills, which physicians use to identify and treat a wide range of health conditions. Like a flight simulator for medical students and practicing clinicians, i-Human replicates the clinical diagnostic reasoning process, teaching students how to recognize symptoms, perform physical exams, and interpret results within the context of a particular affliction. IHP will deliver the new curriculum’s diagnostic clusters to students through its web-based, interactive, simulated patient encounter platform.
“Many medical students are challenged by knowing which exams to perform, how to perform them, and how to interpret the findings,” said Jim Madara, M.D., CEO and Executive Vice President of the AMA. “i-Human Patients’ approach addresses these gaps by better reflecting real clinical practice, shifting a considerable amount of learning from rote exercise to practice of hypothesis-driven history and physical exams, and the employment of clinical reasoning. The AMA has been leading innovation in medical education through its strategic initiative to accelerate change in medical education, and the i-Human Patients platform for physician training complements our ongoing efforts.”
Through its Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative, the AMA is partnering with leading medical schools and national organizations to develop bold, innovative ways to improve physician training to better prepare new physicians for the future practice of medicine and the evolving realities of the health care system. Students will emerge from medical school empowered and better prepared to serve patients in our increasingly diverse, patient-centered, value-driven healthcare system.
The IHP expert educators collaborating to develop innovative methods for teaching patient history and physical examination skills are:
Benjamin Blatt, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine, at George Washington University School of Medicine
Mary Jo Fink, M.D., Assistant Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Ananya Gangopadhyaya, M.D., Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine and Associate Course Director of Essentials of Clinical Medicine 3-4 at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine
Deepthiman Gowda, M.D., MPH, Assistant Professor of Medicine at CUMC, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons
Asra Khan, M.D., Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Course Director Essentials of Clinical Medicine, Clerkship Director Internal Medicine, and Associate Program Director Medicine at University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine
Lynn Kosowicz, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine and Medical Director of the Clinical Skills Assessment Program at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Ronald C. Silvestri, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Department of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Senior Staff Physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Gordon Woods, M.D., MHPE, FACP, Associate Professor of Medicine, College Master, and Jonathan and Patricia Rogers Endowed Chair of Medical Education at the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine at the Texas Tech Health University Sciences Center
Rachel Yudkowsky, M.D., MHPE, Director, Dr. Allan L. and Mary L. Graham Clinical Performance Center and Associate Professor in the Department of Medical Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine
About i-Human Patients, Inc.
i-Human Patients, Inc. develops virtual medical training products and services, including its flagship i-Human Patients® platform, launched in November 2012, which educators at 20 percent of U.S. medical schools are subscribing to or developing content on in anticipation of future use. Cloud-based and interactive, i-Human improves training outcomes and clinical protocol compliance for students, instructors, and practicing clinicians using active learning strategies and content developed by leading medical educators at more than 40 schools. i-Human Patients, Inc. is based in Sunnyvale, Calif.
About the American Medical Association
The American Medical Association is the premier national organization dedicated to empowering the nation’s physicians to continually provide safer, higher quality, and more efficient care for patients and communities. For more than 165 years, the AMA has been unwavering in its commitment to using its unique position and knowledge to improve the health of the nation.
Contacts
For i-Human Patients:
Gregory FCA
Denise DiMeglio, 610-228-2102
[email protected]
or
For American Medical Association:
American Medical Association
Kelly Jakubek, 312-464-4443
[email protected]