Death is not always a failure: outcomes from implementing an online virtual patient clinical case in palliative care for family medicine clerkship

Figures & data

Table 1 Student self-reported level of preparedness and experiences following the virtual patient Palliative Care online case

Personal level of preparedness with managing the following palliative care clinical situation
Pain	Pre: 2.42±0.8 Post: 3.6±0.68	p<0.001
Other palliative care symptoms	Pre: 2.21±0.76 Post: 3.26±0.72	p<0.001
Counseling patient	Pre: 2.30±0.82 Post: 3.48±0.75	p<0.001
Discussing patient's limited prognosis with family	Pre: 2.33± 0.90 Post: 3.43±0.79	p<0.001
Discussing the use of a personal directive w/pt.	Pre: 2.16±0.92 Post: 3.28±0.89	p<0.001
Taking care of a dying patient in general	Pre: 2.17±0.81 Post: 3.14±0.76	p<0.001
All p-values from paired t-test.
Thematic analysis of student's narrative comments
Theme	Comments
Useful content	‘Found it helpful and realistic, appreciated the in-depth explanations’. ‘It was well written and had a lot of good information in it’.
Beneficial teaching modality	‘I think it is great way to get us thinking about palliative care. It helped me to learn all of the additional important factors such as family situation, personal directives etc’. ‘It was helpful to study it in a case format so you could understand the steps’.
Realism of case	‘It was quite good, and taught me a lot. The realism of the case was a plus’. ‘I thought it was a realistic case with good teaching points. A great way to learn the concepts. I wish there were more’.
Awkward navigation	‘Found the navigation counterproductive & frustrating. I appreciate the attempt to make it more realistic, but I would end up doing it in a very illegal order and I felt like I kept getting interrupted by tangents’.
Worried about missing key points in the case	‘I don't like the “choose your own adventure” approach. I felt like I was missing parts’. ‘The case was helpful. It would have been nice to have a summary of key points at the end’.