Virtual Clinics: Innovative Use of the Online Classroom

The development of case-based, real-world learning environments can prepare nurse practitioner students to meet the complex health care needs of vulnerable populations in a changing health care system.  This presentation outlines how teaching methods that use patient cases can be implemented in the synchronous online format to foster interviewing skills, resourcefulness, diagnostic ability, and an advanced understanding of collaborative practice. 

In the synchronous online classroom, narrative cases (or clinical stories) allow students to take on roles of patient, interviewer, examiner, family member, collaborator, and colleague.  The online classroom is used as a clinical setting – where the patient presentation, assessment, and management occur in real time.  Students use synchronous audio conferencing with linked visual displays to make complex management decisions.   In virtual clinics, assessment findings can be seen or heard, and patient response to treatment plans are identified.  Students are required to manage acute and chronic illnesses, address health disparities, and promote health and wellness in a culturally sensitive manner, and find this synchronous online experience to be empowering. 

Presenters will discuss the various “clinics” that have been created in their synchronous classrooms, including formats similar to urgent care, specialty care, primary care practices, and chronic treatment centers.  Participants will “meet” extended family members, participate in dermatology challenges, and learn the how-to of running a virtual online urgent care.

Participants will gain insight into enhanced strategies for building an online learning environment that supports inquiry, improves student satisfaction, and includes partnership with students. Evaluation methods (two-step testing and objective clinical exams) have indicated the effectiveness of this synchronous approach.