May 3, 2012 3:20 - 5:00pm
Luke Woodham, MSc, St George's, University of London
Sheetal Kavia, BSc, St George's, University of London
Terence Poulton, PhD, St George's, University of London
Trupti Jivram, BSc, St George's, University of London
The transitional training year between clinical science and clinical practice at St George's University of London is supported by an interactive form of Problem-Based Learning (PBL) using online Virtual Patients (VPs). The instant feedback on students' clinical decision making skills which VPs provide can be extended with other interactive tools that provide both collaborative and self-assessment opportunities, with particular application to the analysis of medical images. The e-Learning Unit developed a tool called Interactive Clinical Images (ICI), allowing students to annotate clinical images such as X-rays, CT scans and ECGs with drawn or text notes. Built using web standards, the tool can be used stand-alone or embedded into existing delivery platforms, and allows the students to compare their analysis to that of an expert practitioner. Despite the expectation that clinical results will always be sent to practitioners with reports outlining the findings from the results, it is still expected that students will understand how to read clinical images. This tool allows students to self-assess their abilities in this area. The ICI tool has been implemented within the PBL cases for the 2011/12 academic year. Feedback on the implementation of the new tool will be presented, and a demonstration will be given showcasing the functionality offered by the tool and the range of applications and images to which it can be applied.
