Virtual physical examination (VPE): a multimedia system for education in medicine

The virtual physical examination (VPE) platform is a web–based, multimedia system for medical examination education, distributed and supported by Cerner. The system was built using MySQL, Flash and PHP and developed for creating and conducting physical examinations on virtual patient cases in a simulated environment. VPE allows users to perform physical examinations virtually on patients. A user can create 3D avatars of patients, build medical cases, perform diagnosis and attach associated files including audio, video, image, text and interactive assets. VPE allows for controlled sharing of assets as well as full cases, either within the same organisation or publicly. A video demonstrating VPE can be found at http://digbio.missouri.edu/Cerner/Cerner_VPE_Demo.mp4. VPE has broad educational applications ranging from the basic introduction of medicine to high school students to advanced education for nursing and medical students. The solution is used to both teach and reinforce physical exam concepts. VPE is available at https://vpe.cernerlearningmanager.com.