1. Infoway VP Student Challenge outline David Topps Janet Tworek

2. Objectives This short overview provides you with information about virtual patients, what they are, some material on how to create them, and what help you might need. It links to examples from our series on ‘Using EMRs in Patient Interviews’

3. Disclaimer No students were harmed in the making of this material, although some faculty and cookies were lightly maimed. All tools are free. All material is Creative Commons licensed.

4. What the heck is a Virtual Patient? What a VP is not: – Not virtual reality or virtual world Try a Virtual Patient about Virtual Patients Try a Virtual Patient about Virtual Patients

5. The EMR is just a tool So why would I want to spend time on this? Learn to communicate well while using an EMR and...

6. The Perils and Pitfalls of Power Tools Bandsaws and hammers? We tried to illustrate in our case examples how using an EMR requires knowledge of more than just where to click.

7. So why aren’t we working directly with an EMR? Better focus on clinical case Better feedback Better assessment of strengths and weaknesses

8. Do I need programming skills? No you don’t

9. Do I need help? In many ways, kohai, but... Not for your good stories and cases Yes for building the fancy stuff such as EMR interface links

10. Who would be able to help? A computer savvy person with some skills in HTML

11. Is the software free? Yes, all the software mentioned here is available for free.

12. How do I get started? Take a look at our case examplesour case examples Find out more about VPs in generalabout VPs in general – This page is about OpenLabyrinth but the principles apply to all VPs. Think of good cases or stories Find out more about the VUE concept mapping tool the VUE concept mapping tool

13. How do I get my case from storyboard to full Virtual Patient? Basic steps are not hard But there are some wee frustrations Early phases are a bit geeky Creating a full case with fancy EMR interface is harder