The New England Journal of Medicine and Brigham & Women’s Hospital Offer Interactive Medical Cases
Boston, MA - New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), in partnership with Brigham & Women’s Hospital, is now offering a unique online learning tool called Interactive Medical Cases on NEJM.org. The series of cases simulate clinical encounters to enable doctors to learn best practice strategies and improve outcomes for their patients.
Each Interactive Medical Case is based on a real patient’s experience of illness, and follows that patient all the way from presentation through outcome. Learners are presented with an evolving patient history, and their knowledge is tested incrementally through multiple choice questions, matching, and/or identification tasks. Users can choose to examine the patient, and listen to their hearts or lungs, and then make some initial choices on how they want to proceed. They can order tests, receive the results, and act on those decisions.
Through peer reviewed commentary, learners receive immediate feedback on their choices and use online video and interactive materials to reinforce the learning themes and learning objectives. Physicians are able to view their performance in comparison to their peers at the end and receive contextual feedback on their choices throughout the case. Once completed, users will be awarded up to 2 AMA PRA Category 1 CME Credits.
“The pace of change in medical knowledge makes it essential for clinicians to find effective ways to develop their problem-solving skills,” said Graham McMahon, M.D., M.M.Sc., Editor for Medical Education at the New England Journal of Medicine. “This unique educational resource answers that need. The Interactive Medical Cases will help clinicians enhance retention, and will allow physicians with limited time to learn by managing a real case online from present through outcome.”
The new Interactive Medical Cases will help residents, IMs, office-based primary care clinicians, hospitalists, and rural MDs, learn optimal decision making for patient care; prioritize appropriate use of diagnostic tests; understand pathophysiology of medical problems; and recognize areas for improving their clinical practice.
The interactive cases were developed by Dr. Joseph Loscalzo, chair of the Department of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) and Dr. John J. Ross, one of the authors of the Interactive Medical Cases and a BWH hospitalist. “By simulating a real-world patient encounter, the Interactive Medical Cases provide clinicians with a novel and entertaining way to hone their problem-solving skills," said Dr. Ross.
The first four cases will be published consecutively September through December 2009, followed by a Clinical Problem Solving (CPS) article that will appear in the print issue of NEJM a few weeks later.
The New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM.org) is the world’s leading medical journal and website. Owned by the Massachusetts Medical Society, NEJM publishes peer-reviewed research and interactive clinical content for physicians, educators and the global medical community. For more information, please visit www.nejm.org.
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