Last April, from the 14th to 16th, medical students from different states of the US and various countries of South America, have participated in a phenomenal competition – called Virtual Patient Challenge. This competition was part of the mega convention promoted by American Medical Students Association (AMSA) and Students National Medical Association (SNMA). The event was sponsored by the US Army, Kaiser Permanente and powered by Body Interact.
A chance to e-meet other students and hear feedback from their actions, led 16 teams to an experience “full of positive energy and a necessary component to AMSA virtual convention”, said Shannon Shipman, AMSA Volunteer and Events Manager.
From virtual patients to real practice
Organized in two rounds, the simulated clinical scenarios required medical knowledge, clinical skills, teamwork, and communication.
Each team had 20 minutes to evaluate, discuss, and initiate a treatment strategy for each case. After each round, Dr Brit Geisler, Physician Recruiting Integration Officer in the US Army Medical Recruiting Brigade and Dr Calvin Wheeler from Kaiser Permanente answered to the teams’ questions and helped all convention participants to transfer the knowledge they’ve applied in the simulation to real-life practice.
“The ability to zoom in and out of the students’ rooms was helpful to see the team effort and their interaction with the ‘patient’”, mentioned Dr Calvin Wheeler. Also, the debriefing session helped educators understand participants’ thinking pathway.
For Dr Brit Geisler, “sim is critical in the future of medicine at all levels” and it helps future healthcare providers to distinguish “what it says in the books versus what really happens”. About Body Interact, Dr Brit Geisler “loves that it actually took time for things to get done, which is hard to make happen with in person simulations”.
Different nations, the same patient
Ton La Jr., Jay Bhandari and David Vavrinak, or AMSA 4 Life, as they named their team, have participated on the first ever Body Interact online competition.
As team leader, Ton La Jr., told us that, even thought he was the one controlling the simulator, all team members “collaborated on how to diagnose the patient when it came to ask questions, do physical exams that were needed or any intermedium intervention”. A fun and challenging competition that helped him realize that Body Interact stands as a solution for COVID-19 pandemic situation as “it is a real case scenario that future doctors will encounter in the ER”.
For Jay Bhandari, 3rd-year student from Poznan University of Medical Sciences, his favourite part was that although he and his teammates were based in different cities, they’re “still able to examine the same patient”.
Watch Ton La Jr. full testimony.
Watch Jay Bhandari full testimony.
Promote ongoing education of doctors in training
Due to COVID-19 pandemic situation, most of the events were cancelled. Nevertheless, and for the first time in history, thanks to Body Interact virtual patients’ simulator, AMSA Convention & Exhibition has happened at the same time in different nations and not only in Washington DC.
“Now more than ever, tools such as those provided by Body Interact are vital to the ongoing education of doctors in training”, concluded AMSA Volunteer and Events Manager.
