ArticleBMC medical education2023
"It kinda helped us to be there": students' perspectives on the use of virtual patient software in psychiatry posting.
Article in BMC medical education, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Virtual and Augmented Reality in Undergraduate Medical Education in Psychiatry: A Systematic Review.The clinical teacher · 2025Pooled it
- A virtual patient-based training program to enhance clinical decision-making competencies in general practice residents: mixed-methods study.BMC medical education · 2026Article
- Beyond words: analyzing non-verbal communication techniques in a medical communication skills course via synchronous online platform.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAt the Faculty of Medicine of the National University of Malaysia, a virtual patient software program, DxR Clinician, was utilised for the teaching of neurocognitive disorder topics during the psychiatry posting of undergraduate medical students in a modified team-based learning (TBL) module. This study aimed to explore medical students' learning experiences with virtual patient.
methodsTen students who previously underwent the learning module were recruited through purposive sampling. The inclusion criteria were: (a) Fourth-year medical students; and (b) Completed psychiatry posting with the new module. Students who dropped out or were unable to participate in data collection were excluded. Two online focus group discussions (FGDs) with five participants each were conducted by an independent facilitator, guided by a questioning route. The data were transcribed verbatim and coded using the thematic analysis approach to identify themes.
resultsThree main themes of their learning experience were identified: (1) fulfilment of the desired pedagogy (2), realism of the clinical case, and (3) ease of use related to technical settings. The pedagogy theme was further divided into the following subthemes: level of entry for students, flexibility of presentation of content, provision of learning guidance, collaboration with peers, provision of feedback, and assessment of performance. The realism theme had two subthemes: how much the virtual patient experience mimicked an actual patient and how much the case scenario reflected real conditions in the Malaysian context. The technical setting theme entailed two subthemes: access to the software and appearance of the user interface. The study findings are considered in the light of learning formats, pedagogical and learning theories, and technological frameworks.
conclusionsThe findings shed light on both positive and negative aspects of using virtual patients for medical students' psychiatry posting, which opens room for further improvement of their usage in undergraduate psychiatry education.
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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.