ArticlePerspectives on medical education2014
Virtual patients as activities: exploring the research implications of an activity theoretical stance.
Article in Perspectives on medical education, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Exploring the efficacy of replacing linear paper-based patient cases in problem-based learning with dynamic Web-based virtual patients: randomized controlled trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2014Trial
- A scoping review on the use of virtual patients for enhancing empathy in medical students.Medical education online · 2026Article
- Ensuring Knowledge Transfer: The Critical Role of "What-If" Discussions in Virtual Patient Simulation.Perspectives on medical education · 2026Article
- Using virtual patients to enhance empathy in medical students: a scoping review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2025Article
- Medical Students' Learning About Other Professions Using an Interprofessional Virtual Patient While Remotely Connected With a Study Group: Mixed Methods Study.JMIR medical education · 2023Article
- Effect of different teaching/learning approaches using virtual patients on student's situational interest and cognitive load: a comparative study.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- A scoping review: virtual patients for communication skills in medical undergraduates.BMC medical education · 2022Article
- Article
- Virtual patients reflecting the clinical reality of primary care - a useful tool to improve cultural competence.BMC medical education · 2021Article
- Implementing interprofessional learning curriculum: how problems might also be answers.BMC medical education · 2018Article
- Increasing Reasoning Awareness: Video Analysis of Students' Two-Party Virtual Patient Interactions.JMIR medical education · 2018Article
- A conceptual framework of game-informed principles for health professions education.Advances in simulation (London, England) · 2016Article
- Cognitive Load and Self-Determination Theories Applied to E-Learning: Impact on Students' Participation and Academic Performance.PloS one · 2016Article
- Intersecting Virtual Patients and Microbiology: Fostering a culture of learning.The Ulster medical journal · 2015Article
- Medical Student and Tutor Perceptions of Video Versus Text in an Interactive Online Virtual Patient for Problem-Based Learning: A Pilot Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2015Article
- Research challenges in digital education.Perspectives on medical education · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
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Abstract
Virtual patients are computer-based simulators of patient encounters for the purposes of instruction, practice, and assessment. Although virtual patients have been around for some time they have yet to become part of mainstream medical education. A major reason for this would seem to be a lack of clarity as to what educational value virtual patients actually have. This paper argues that virtual patients should be seen as activities rather than artifacts and that activity theory can be used to generate different ways to frame scholarship in and around virtual patients. Drawing on the work of Leont'ev and Engeström this paper describes a range of perspectives based on the operations, actions, and objectives in and around virtual patients; the use of virtual patients to mediate activities; and the sociocultural context and the participants in virtual patient activities. This approach allows us to move beyond the 'does or does not work' discourse of much of the existing scholarship around virtual patients and, to an extent, around educational technologies as a whole. Activity perspectives, and activity theory in particular, offer new horizons for research and evaluation that address many of the limitations of intervention-based paradigms of inquiry.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.