A decision analytic approach to Web-based clinician training

Abstract

Given the desire to create interactive websites that effectively engage and instruct medical professionals, an alternative model for online case studies was developed. The resulting application presents the user with a virtual patient, asks for information regarding the treatment and care of that patient, and provides customized feedback to the user. When a person uses this application, one could say the goal of the user is to make the necessary decisions that will stabilize the patient, and the goal of the application is to provide feedback regarding those decisions. In order to adapt to user decisions, the design incorporates an unconventional use of decision analysis. The source of uncertainty is the clinician's strategy, or sequence of decisions. Given the user's decision, the appropriate system response is assumed to be uncertain a priori. The proposed model requires the application to conduct an internal analysis, and then condition the response on the circumstances under which the decision is made. This conditioning approach informs the patient's behavior during the simulation, and it determines the appropriate constructive feedback for the user. Intuitively, a system constructed using the proposed model is better suited to address the educational needs of an individual learner. Also, despite the context of this model, it is noted that the proposed model need not be restricted to medical applications.