Resident recognized for virtual patient project

June 1, 2012

By Aisling Gamble

Carly Glasner (right) with her faculty advisor, Dr. David Topps

The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) along with its sponsor, Canada Health Infoway, has announced the award recipients for the CHEC-CESC Virtual Patient Challenge 2011.

Carly Glasner, a family medicine resident, and her faculty advisor, Dr. David Topps, have won second prize for authoring “Poppy Gone : A Virtual Prenatal Patient.”

“In the days leading up to the announcement, I was on edge, constantly checking my email and the CHEC website. Upon learning the outcome, I was thrilled that our team’s hard work was recognized in such an honorable way and eager to share in the success,” said Glasner.

The primary objective of Glasner’s project was to create a virtual patient that explores problem solving abilities in low-risk obstetrics. Glasner says she joined the project because she found it to be intriguing and innovative. “I was soon immersed in an endeavour about which I am passionate. Not only was I able to contribute to the field of medical education, I learned a lot about the entire process, and was able to work with an incredible support team.”

Dr. David Topps, a professor in the Department of Family Medicine, says Glasner’s case and her success has created a lot of additional interest in virtual patient cases here amongst residents.

“They are required to create an item of scholarly work during their residency. With this initiative, they can create something which contributes to their own learning, can be used by others in the future to enhance their learning and can even be acknowledged in traditional circles as being a scholarly publication.” Topps adds there are four or five residents lined up so far to create cases for next year.

The Virtual Patient Challenge is part of the AFMC-Infoway Physician in Training e-Health Curriculum and e-Learning initiative. Glasner and Topps had their project displayed during the Canadian Conference on Medical Education in April and will be included in the CHEC-CESC national repository online.

The Canadian Healthcare Education Commons - Collaboration pour l'éducation en santé au Canada (CHEC-CESC) is an initiative of the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC). Its mission is to support the healthcare education community by providing an interprofessional platform of web-based services, a database of pedagogical resources, and collaborative tools for educators and learners.