A study that looked at the use of virtual patients in dental education as an adjunct to live patient interactions found that 63% of the surveyed dental schools used virtual patients for preclinical or clinical exercises (Journal of Dental Education, October 2012, Vol. 76:10, pp. 1358-1364).
Robert Cederberg, DDS, from the University of Texas School of Dentistry, and his colleagues sent the Web-based survey to 67 dental schools in the U.S. and Canada; 30 schools responded.
Here are a few other findings from the survey:
- Of the 63% that said they use virtual patients, 31% have used them in their curricula for more than 10 years.
- Approximately one-third of those who do use virtual patients expose their students to more than 10 virtual patient experiences over the entirety of their programs.
- Of the schools that responded, 90% rated the use of virtual patients in dental education as important or very important.
"Use of virtual patients can provide an excellent method for learning and honing patient interviewing skills, medical history taking, recordkeeping, and patient treatment planning," the study authors concluded.
