i-Human Patients Platform Expands to 58 U.S. and International Health Care Professional Institutions

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–i-Human Patients, Inc. (IHP) has expanded its virtual patient learning platform into 58 schools of medicine (SOM), nurse practitioner (NP) schools, physician assistant (PA) programs, and other health care professional institutions. By the end of 2015, more than 10,000 students will be using the i-Human platform to improve their patient assessment and clinical reasoning competencies.

“Educators at a growing number of institutions can now say with confidence that their students will be better prepared as future health care providers”

i-Human’s interactive learning environment acts as a flight simulator for health care professional students, using computer-animated patients to develop and evaluate users’ cognitive competencies—the “Sherlock Holmes” part of medicine. These simulated encounters prepare students to quickly, accurately, and cost-effectively identify and treat a broad range of symptoms and diagnoses. Educators have access to hundreds of patient case scenarios developed by leading educators. Cases can be readily tailored for specific curricula and learning objectives, or educators can quickly create custom cases using the i-Human point-and-click case authoring tool and medical media repository.

“Eighty percent of our customers have started using i-Human in just the last 10 months. This rapid adoption is a testament to the role our cloud-based, simulated patient encounters can play in augmenting traditional on-campus and clerkship programs, as well as the experiential learning they can provide in distance learning programs,” said Norm Wu, CEO of IHP. “NP schools are quickly expanding capacity through online programs, so their graduates can help fill shortages in primary care as demand for health care continues to climb. At the same time, North American SOMs are moving toward integrated organ system curricula in which basic sciences like physiology, anatomy, and biochemistry can be learned in a clinical context, leading to much more effective clinical reasoning competencies. Using i-Human, students can develop and practice their patient assessment and diagnostic competencies long before they start seeing real patients.”

Some of the schools using the i-Human Patients platform include Rush Medical College, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science’s Physician Assistant Program and Chicago Medical School, University of Alabama-Huntsville College of Nursing, Walden University School of Nursing, University of Louisville School of Medicine, Misericordia University’s Physician Assistant Program, and University of South Alabama College of Nursing. IHP is in discussions with many other schools about adopting the platform.

“Educators at a growing number of institutions can now say with confidence that their students will be better prepared as future health care providers,” Wu noted. “As the demand for health care surges with aging Baby Boomers and wider access to health insurance enabled by the Affordable Care Act, that confidence is paramount in improving care and cost-effectiveness.”

About i-Human Patients, Inc.

i-Human Patients, Inc. develops educational technology for the student and practicing health care professional market, including its flagship i-Human Patients^® platform, launched in November 2012. Cloud-based and interactive, the i-Human case player improves cognitive learning outcomes for students using active learning strategies and content developed by almost 100 leading educators.

IHP is collaborating with the Reliance Foundation, an Indian not-for-profit organization that has provided generous support to enhance the i-Human platform and add numerous new simulated patient encounter cases. The partnership aims to provide high-quality virtual health care training to students and clinicians, and equip health care professionals to achieve greater standards of excellence. IHP has also received financial support from the American Medical Association and the National Science Foundation. i-Human Patients, Inc. is based in Sunnyvale, California.