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Welcome

Welcome to the Virtual Interactive Case (VIC) system for creating simulations of encounters with patients in clinics. VIC cases are clinical reasoning exercises with feedback. Their role is to provide a bridge between theory and seeing patients in clinic (or ER), providing students with what Ericsson has called "deliberate practice" as a way of gaining clinical expertise. The strength of VIC is that it is optimized for rapidly creating a large number of cases, by using a patient template, and creating variations of cases with different differential diagnoses for the same presenting complaint.

HTML5 version of the VIC Player launched

The VIC cases on this website have been converted to use the HTML5 version of the VIC Player. This means VIC cases no longer require Adobe Flash. The HTML5 VIC Player works with all currently supported versions of web browsers on desktop or laptop computers and on tablets. Although not yet optimized for smartphones, it can be used in the landscape orientation with a bit of scrolling.

VIC Obstetric Medicine cases launched

Ten Obstetric Medicine VIC cases have developed for residents of the General Internal Medicine program at University of Toronto. They have been published on the Obstetric Medicine section of the VIC website.

VIC Nurse Practitioner cases launched

Examples of 22 VIC cases developed for the Nurse Practitioner Program in the Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing have been published on the VIC for Nurse Practitioner Program section of the VIC website.

VIC Pharmacy cases launched

Examples of 27 VIC cases developed by members of the Pharmacy Department at UHN have been published on the VIC for Pharmacy section of the VIC website. These cases are intended to enhance the teaching of students from the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy at the University of Toronto.

VIC Rheumatology cases launched

Examples of 6 VIC cases developed by Dr. Linda Zhou and Dr. Shirley Lake from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre have been published on the Rheumatology Cases section of the VIC website. These cases are intended to enhance the teaching of residents in the Rheumatology program at the University of Toronto.

Diagnostic problems

Virtual interactive cases are diagnostic problems in which a user can gather the information needed to determine the correct diagnosis by conducting all the investigations they would normally carry out in the clinic (history taking, physical exam, etc.) to rule in or rule out the diagnosis.

Debriefing

Feedback is provided at the end of the case in a debriefing listing the actions they took that were essential, the essential actions they missed, the actions that were inappropriate, and actions that were taken in an incorrect order. A score is also provided reflecting their success in this exercise, along with the time and cost incurred in arriving at the diagnosis.

Case development

The VIC system is designed to facilitate rapid case development. Case development begins with template of all the investigations that can be carried out, with the results for a normal person with no clinical problem. Cases can then be created by substituting abnormal findings at appropriate places in the template, and adding feedback for the debriefing for these actions.