Innovating Healthcare Education at the AUHS: A Possible Integration of i-Standard Patient Software at the School of Medicine
By Oksana Zayachkivska, MD, PhD, DSc, and Olga Vagin, PhD
Professors, School of Medicine, AUHS
On October 11th 2024, the School of Medicine (SOM) hosted an insightful event featuring educational programs offered by Kaplan, Inc. During the event, Regional Medical Programs Director Andew Baker, and Business Development Manager Dr. Yamil Flores, of Kaplan, Inc. had a productive discussion with the faculty of SOM (Fig.1). The event highlighted the implementation of i-Standard Patient software, an advanced active learning tool designed to simulate realistic healthcare scenarios for students and faculty of the future School of Medicine as well as the School of Nursing.
Computer-based educational tools, such as the i-Standard Patient software, have been driven by contributions from AI pioneers like John McCarthy (who coined the term “artificial intelligence”), Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun, and Yoshua Bengio. These innovators laid the foundation for modern AI technologies, including deep learning, neural networks, and machine learning, which underpin the advanced simulation systems used in medical education today.
The recognition of these technologies by distinguished international awards like the Nobel Prize highlights AI’s transformative potential in healthcare and education, Particularly, the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to John J. Hopfield and Geoffrey E. Hinton “for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks.” While their work is not directly linked to the development of artificial intelligence (AI) as a whole, it represents a significant step in understanding the fundamental mechanisms that power AI technologies.
The i-Standard Patient platform with 60 cases of standard patients allows students at the undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels to immerse themselves in hands-on experiences that mirror the complexities of real-world patient care. Dean of SOM, Dr. Szabo said: “This tool together with implementation of problem-based learning (PBL) approach will help future healthcare providers hone their clinical decision-making skills from the first year’s courses and help them better understand the entire patient care journey” (Fig. 2).
Kaplan’s i-Standard Patient software is used in over 300 Schools of Medicine worldwide, as well as in postgraduate education. It underscores the commitment to cutting-edge educational methods. Moreover, it enhances the quality of education by providing innovative, simulation-based learning experiences that aim to improve patient outcomes through well-prepared health professionals.
Searching for a partnership with Kaplan Inc. demonstrates the SOM’s dedication to fostering excellence in healthcare education, equipped with innovative AI-based educational tools.
References
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- Press release of The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.2024, October 8: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2024