The first MedSim workshop in Karnataka was conducted at Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences (HIMS), Hassan, on April 18, 2017. It was coordinated by Dr. Girish Babu, Programme Coordinator, Professor and Head, Department of Dentistry. The workshop was conducted by Mr. Sreejith and Mr. Ashish Mohan, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
MedSim is a medical simulation-based education software that allows features such as deliberate practice and feedback for skills development, exposure to difficult to visualize procedures, protocols and case studies using virtual patient cases. A medical student has the complete freedom to interview the virtual patient, conduct any number of examinations, order lab tests and even treat the patient, without the fear of hurting the patient.
The workshop at HIMS was inaugurated by Dr. Prakash B. S., Director-Professor and Head, Department of Human Anatomy, Dr. Shanka K., Medical Superintendent, and Dr.Girish Babu, Programme Coordinator, Professor and Head, Department of Dentistry, HIMS, Hassan.
Following the inaugural function, a hand-on session was conducted with participants who included 22 MBBS students and 11 facultyy members from various departments such as Pharmacology, Physiology, Ophthalmology, General Surgery and Radiology. Mr. Sreejith gave an introduction of the MedSim software and explained the need for developing the software for undergraduate medical students. He demonstrated some aspects of the software and then participants were allowed to try out cardiovascular and respiratory system patient cases and diagnose the diseases. Following this, the participants were asked to complete a simple survey regarding the software.
Many of the participants particularly appreciated the examination module, which included physical examination and systemic examination.The History Taking, Lab Investigation and Differential Diagnosis modules were also well received according to the survey completed by both the students and faculty. They felt the online performance of the simulator was very good, with good control over the interactions. They agreed that the actual clinical scenarios simulated by MedSim were also very accurate.
