Frequently asked questions

What is a virtual patient?

A virtual patient (VP) is defined as: “an interactive computer simulation of real-life clinical scenarios for the purpose of medical training, education, or assessment”.

What is ‘Repurposing’?

eViP refers to ‘repurposing’ as the means to convert a VP created for one purpose into a VP fir for another purpose. For example adapting a VP for different cultures, languages, or making a VP suitable for different educational levels, disciplines or healthcare professions. eViP has deined eight different repurposing contexts. You can read more about them here.

Are the Virtual Patients based on real cases?

Yes, Virtual Patients are based on real patient cases. They are obtained with the patient’s full consent, and the identity of the patient is never revealed.

How will eViP benefit the healthcare community?

The aim of the eViP Programme is to create a shared online bank of virtual patients (VPs), adapted for multicultural and multilingual use, for the improved quality and efficiency of medical and healthcare education across the EU.

What is MedBiquitous?

MedBiquitous is the leading developer of healthcare standards, and is one of the eViP collaborators. It is an international group of professional medical and healthcare associations, universities, commercial, and governmental organizations that implement technology standards for the promotion of improved professional competence, enhanced medical education and, ultimately, better patient care.
MeBiquitous aims to develop XML standards for the interoperability, accessibility and reusability of web-based virtual patient learning content.

Why are technical standards needed for Virtual Patients?

Medicine and healthcare are currently experiencing big changes in terms of continuing medical education and methods of teaching. There is a need for enhanced communication between educators, institutions and speciality boards. MedBiquitous Virtual Patient standards provides the technology that allows effective communication, adaption and transference of educational resources across the board. They also allow for effective evaluation and assessment of the resources.

Will I need to pay to access the eViP virtual patients?

No, the eViP bank of repurposed and enriched VPs, and all associated resources will be available under a Creative Commons License.