SBIR Phase I: A Web Platform for Creating Virtual Patient Cases for Medical Education

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目建议评估一个网络平台的优点和发展可行性，该平台用于创建和提供下一代虚拟患者病例接触。这些案例相遇将使自我指导的班级和基于团队的主动学习练习成为可能，这些练习将包含自动化的概念和技能熟练程度评估。教育工作者将能够客观地评估病人的评估和诊断推理能力，以及对基础科学概念的理解。该项目的最初影响是改善学生的教育成果，并使其符合认证机构和学校管理人员的教育改革指令。我们预计，在商业化后的第四年，仅北美UME市场的收入就将超过600万美元。最后，美国大学是美国少数几个在贸易和国际声誉方面保持积极平衡的行业之一，美国是许多外国医科学生选择的教育和实践目的地，这证明了这一点。更广泛的影响/商业潜力是利用互联网技术来展示美国在国际医疗保健教育方面的领导地位，从而为美国创造就业机会和积极的外汇，这是一个具有重要战略意义但迄今为止在技术上被忽视的市场

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to assess the merit and developmental feasibility of a Web-platform for creating and delivering next-generation virtual patient case encounters. These case encounters will enable self-directed class and team-based active learning exercises that incorporate automated concept and skill proficiency assessment. Educators will be able to objectively assess patient assessment and diagnostic reasoning proficiency as well as understanding of the underlying basic science concepts.The initial impact of this project is to improve student educational outcomes and enable compliance with educational reform directives from accreditation authorities and school administrators. We project revenue in excess of $6 million from the North American UME market alone by the fourth year after commercial availability. Lastly, US Universities are one of the few US industries with a positive balance of trade and reputation for international excellence as evidenced by the US being the educational and practice destination of choice for many foreign medical students. The broader impact/commercial potential is to use internet technology to project US leadership in healthcare education internationally, and thereby generate US jobs and positive foreign exchange in a strategically important yet heretofore technologically neglected market