Virtual patients - what are we talking about? A framework to classify the meanings of the term in healthcare education.

Background: The term "virtual patients" (VPs) has been used for
many years in academic publications, but its meaning varies,
leading to confusion. Our aim was to investigate and categorize the
use of the term "virtual patient" and then classify its use in
healthcare education. Methods: A literature review was conducted to
determine all articles using the term “virtual patient” in the
title or abstract. These articles were categorized into: Education,
Clinical Procedures, Clinical Research and E-Health. All
educational articles were further classified based on a framework
published by Talbot et al. which was further developed using a
deductive content analysis approach. Results: 536 articles
published between 1991 and December 2013 were included in the
study. From these, 330 were categorized as educational. Classifying
these showed that 37% articles used VPs in the form of Interactive
Patient Scenarios. VPs in form of High Fidelity Software
Simulations (19%) and Virtual Standardized Patients (16%) were also
frequent. Less frequent were other forms, such as VP Games.
Analyzing the literature across time shows an overall trend towards
the use of Interactive Patient Scenarios as the predominant form of
VPs in healthcare education. Conclusions: The main form of
educational VPs in the literature are Interactive Patient Scenarios
despite rapid technical advances that would support more complex
applications. The adapted classification provides a valuable model
for VP developers and researchers in healthcare education to more
clearly communicate the type of VP they are addressing avoiding
misunderstandings.