What is CORTEX?

Cardiff University School of Medicine
The School of Medicine is one of the largest Schools within Cardiff University, featuring numerous postgraduate courses and the largest undergraduate course in the University.

The undergraduate curriculum now has over 1500 students taught over two main campuses, and numerous clinical locations. To address many of the logistical problems associated with large student numbers and the pseudo-distance learning nature of the course, the current undergraduate curriculum is evolving to make increasing use of technology to deliver educational experiences and resources to students.

CORTEX and the C21 Project
In conjunction with the evolution of the current curriculum, the School is developing a new curriculum to go-live in Septbember 2013 for the new first year in-take. The new curriculum will be developed with technology as a much more integrated part of the curriculum and pedagogy from the off. This programme is know as the C21 project.

To facilitate the appropriate uptake of technology within both curricula the School of Medicine eLearning Team are running the CORTEX project. The CORTEX project aims to provide web-based resources to staff to enable them to select and implement technology appropriate for their teaching. The project is a corner stone of the eLearning Strategy, which aims to enable and empower staff to implement as much eLearning as necessary with as little direct involvement from the eLearning Team as possible. This prevents the eLearning Team from becoming a bottle neck, and allows the eLearning Team to focus on areas such as infrastructure, specialist technical developments, and quality assurance.

While the main focus for the project is to support the undergraduate curriculum, the School of Medicine also delivers numerous postgraduate, distance learning courses, which also make heavy use of eLearning. Many staff supporting these courses are also struggling with the adoption of technology, and so the planned CORTEX website will be developed in conjunction with PGT to ensure we cater for the School’s overall eLearning requirements as far as possible.

Wider Collaboration
A similar degree of collaboration is also required with University Learning and Teaching Support team, to ensure that we are well aligned with the University’s Technology Enhanced Education strategy, and that the resources we produce are as widely applicable across the University as possible.

Virtual Patients at Cardiff; Literature Review Abstract

Purpose
After developing a small number of experimental Virtual Patients as optional components in the undergraduate curriculum and having received very favourable feedback from students about them the School now needs to undertake a more comprehensive review of virtual patients. The review intends to uncover the pedagogic underpinnings for effective virtual patient delivery and help CU staff identify areas of the medical curriculum where they would be best suited.

Method
A literature review of how both national and international medical teaching institutions have reported the effectiveness of their VP implementation, with particular focus on elements of the educational theories which have best enhanced the intended transferable learning aspects. The results were then used with the intention of helping staff identify areas of the undergraduate curriculum where VP’s would be best suited, and to what degree they can be integrated into core teaching.

Results
Results indicated a wide variance of the ways in which VPs were integrated into core medical teaching but with common theme of pedagogic design prinicpals which were key to the effectiveness of preparing the student for ‘real’ patient encounters; authenticity was seen as a key enabling factor for this.

Conclusion
It was found that the development of competence in clinical reasoning was a key target for any VP; authenticity of clinical events and patient dialogue facilitated by appropriate media being a dominant factor in preparing the student for real patient interaction, particularly in exercising social and communication skills. VP’s can be integrated as a focal subject for use within lectures or seminars, or used as a self-directed study aid, accessed externally to core teaching; the degree of its integration should be left to the discretion of the curriculum leads.

Virtual Patients at Cardiff; A Review

Virtual Patients are computer-based simulations of fictitious patients presenting with a complaint. The complaint is analysed by the learner and encourages thinking processes surrounding history taking, examination, diagnosis, treatment and discharge, without the obvious risks associated with a student treating a real patient case. The cases can focus on important common condition but can also be used to cover important conditions that it may be difficult for students to gain experience of, such as domestic abuse.

Main Points...

• Allows self-directed learning opportunities
• Narrative/didactic style of delivery for earlier years students
• Branched/exploratory style of learning for later years where knowledge can be applied
• Focus is on applying clinical knowledge to diagnostic thinking and management
• Cognitive realism - that is that the challenge posed to the learner seems real - is more important than visual realism - that is that real photos or video clips are used
• Communication/social skills for patient dialogue can be exercised Opportunity to familiarise with patient dialogue
• Continual focus on learning objectives is key for maintaining relevance
• Regular self-assessment opportunities allows the learner to evaluate their own progress
• Promotion of clinical reasoning is arguably the most important distinguishing feature of VP delivery and purpose

Read more about the comprehensive literature review conducted at Cardiff University School of Medicine...

Access the full literature review here.