Virtual Interactive Case (VIC) System - rapid authoring and versatile deployment options

May 3, 2012 3:20 - 5:00pm

Gordon Tait, PhD, Toronto General Hospital
Tabetha Lulham, MSCBMC, Toronto General Hospital
Marcus Law, MD, University of Toronto
Nabil Zary, PhD, Karolinska Institutet,

We have developed Virtual Interactive Case (VIC) software for creating simulations of patient encounters in clinics. These cases allow the user to take the patients history, conduct a functional assessment and physical exam, order appropriate laboratory tests, review diagnostic images and consult with specialists in gathering the information to arrive at a diagnosis that accounts for the presenting complaint. After selecting the diagnosis and treatment, the program provides a debriefing, listing the actions they took that were essential, actions that were missed, actions that were inappropriate, and actions done in an incorrect order. A score is provided reflecting their performance, along with the time and cost incurred in arriving at the diagnosis. Their score, time and cost are compared to that of an experienced clinician. The VIC Player is a Flash application, and the case information is an XML file on the users’ hard drive, eliminating the requirement for a database connection for editing and playing cases. VIC cases can be played offline on the users’ computer or online on a Web server for access or embedded in a LMS. The cases can include multimedia (images, sounds and video). The VIC Editor allows rapid creation of cases by modifying a template case, and by dragging and dropping actions from other cases. The VIC cases can also be used for student evaluation by activating a log tracking the users actions and their debriefing and score.