Virtual Patients

In medical education and clinical care, representations of the patient help health care teams in planning and coordinating patient care, sometimes over geographic distances. This takes forms ranging from telemedicine consultations to using simulations and information and communication technology representations to plan, and at times, perform clinical procedures such as are done in intensive care units or in surgery. The increasing reliance on computer-mediated interaction in health care generally is considered the means to more efficient, equitable, and cost-effective care with reduced errors. Clinical work, then, may be carried out with simulated images and processes rather than through such physical processes as examining the patient directly. Instead of treating the actual person, one result may be that clinicians are treating computer-mediated representations of that person. 30