Implementation of Process-Oriented Feedback in a Clinical Reasoning Tool for Virtual Patients

Virtual patients (VPs) offer a safe environment to teach clinical reasoning skills, but feedback is often provided in outcome-, rather than process-oriented fashion. For complex cognitive skills, such as clinical reasoning, the process itself is often more important than the end result, especially during the learning phase. We have developed a tool that can be integrated into VP systems to specifically support the clinical reasoning process and provides process- and outcome-oriented feedback. In a pilot study we explored students usage patterns and satisfaction depending on the feedback type. We did not detect any significant differences between the groups and the time on task indicates similar engagement in both groups. The responses from the satisfaction survey show areas for further development.