Tools for Transformation

Funded Proposals

Patient Simulation Authoring Software for the World Wide Web

School of Medicine, Medical Education

The purpose of this project is the development, testing, and implementation of a patient simulation authoring software toolkit that can be used to create complex problem-solving exercises across many academic domains. Patient simulations have been used for many years in the health sciences to teach and evaluate the students’ understanding of the complexities of diagnosis, treatment, and management of disease and distress.

A student is presented with an initial scenario, typically including descriptive information about a patient, and then required to make sequential choices about questions to ask, exams to perform, lab tests to order, and resulting diagnoses and treatment. A typical simulation includes 200 to 400 choices and is complex to write and administer, but invaluable in its ability to actively engage students in decision making and problem solving.

This project will provide the University community with a software toolkit for authoring and administering simulation exercises across academic disciplines. It will allow rapid development and web-based presentation of exercises to facilitate the easy use of appropriate images and sounds, administration of the simulations to many students at many locations, and the use of multiple computer platforms.

PROGRESS REPORT

October 20, 1999

A series of four initial meetings were conducted with Drs. Brock, Carline and Wolf to further conceptualize the Patient Simulation Project. A draft development document was discussed. Methods by which information would be collected from potential uses were planned, and a list of key informants was developed. Drs. Brock and Carline also met with Dr. Gerald Barnett--a representative from the Technology Transfer Office--to discuss issues of authorship and ownership with various aspects of the software to be developed. A number of meetings have been held with Jim Barrett and John Bolles of the Health Sciences Center for Educational Resources (HSCER) to outline the scope of work to be undertaken by HSCER staff.

Job descriptions for a research assistant and programmer were developed and approved by the University. The following project staff members have been hired:

1. A half-time Research Assistant (Joetta Bell) has been hired and began work on July 1, 1999. Ms. Bell is a master's degree student in the Educational Technology program, and has worked with web-based community health education projects.
2. A half-time programmer (Rod Megraw) has been hired and will begin work on November 15, 1999. Mr. Megraw is a graduate of the UW Computer Science program and has worked in software development. He will be attending the University part time in preparation for applying for a doctoral program. His background in software development and his interest in working half time are well suited to the project needs.

• A preliminary time line for the development of the simulation presentation software has been drafted, and a similar time line for the authoring software is under development. The authoring timeline will overlap with the timeline for the presentation shell. A draft for the presentation shell timeline is provided below.
• A conceptual description of the simulation software has been developed.
• Working in collaboration with Dr Brock, Ms. Bell has conducted over 30 faculty interviews in order to better understand the cross-disciplinary scope of the project and better understand and meet faculty needs for simulations
• Ms. Bell and Dr Brock have reviewed over 15 commercial simulation products to better understand the strengths and limitations of existing alternative simulations.
• Ms. Bell, Margaret Shannon and Dr. Donn Strand of the Department of Medical Education have reviewed 10 of the existing Patient Management Problems (PMP's). These reviews have been used to generate requirements data for building the simulation shell and authoring tool and to fulfill existing obligations to translate the existing PMP's used by the Department of Internal Medicine. These requirements will be used in writing the functional specifications.
• Dr. Brock and Ms. Bell are reviewing the existing patient-simulation literature. This work will continue throughout the project.
• Initial work has begun with Ms. Bell, Dr. Brock and John Bolles to complete a functional specification for the simulation presentation software. This specification will then be used to guide initial programming efforts.
• We anticipate that design of the database structure will begin November 15, 1999 and programming for the presentation shell will begin December 1, 1999.

  Tools for Transformation Funded Proposals

  

  The Provost's Office
  provost@u.washington.edu
  Modified: November 30, 1999