The American Medical Association is partnering with i-Human Patients as part of an effort to improve and digitize teaching medical students, aiming to improve outcomes in the long term.
As part of the collaboration, i-Human, a Silicon Valley-based developer of cloud software for medical education, will partner with nine expert medical educators from around the country to determine the most effective educational tools.
The company’s software platform, it says, uses a computer-animated patient to cultivate diagnostic reasoning skills. Like a flight simulator for medical students and practicing clinicians, i-Human replicates the clinical diagnostic reasoning process, teaching students how to recognize symptoms, perform physical exams, and interpret results within the context of a particular affliction.
Ultimately, it could lead to fewer misdiagnosis and reduce unnecessary — and costly — testing by future physicians.
“i-Human offers students a more thorough understanding of physical exams by developing their diagnostic reasoning in a clinical context,” said Norm Wu, CEO of IHP, in a statement. “With one in 20 U.S. adult outpatients misdiagnosed every year, there’s an opportunity to reimagine medical education to better prepare future doctors for real-world patient encounters.”
The AMA, through its Accelerating Change in Medical Education initiative, is partnering with medical schools and national organizations to develop innovative ways to improve physician training to better prepare new physicians for the future practice of medicine and the evolving realities of the health care system.
Physician educators from the following universities will take part in the collaboration:George Washington University School of Medicine, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and the Paul L. Foster School of Medicine at the Texas Tech Health University Sciences Center.
