If you’re like me (god help you), hours of your week are spent trawling through press releases from colleges and universities in the area, looking for the next big breakthrough in science news. But if you’re like me, you’re probably not reading this blog. You’re writing your own.
And if you came across the article I just read from the University of Buffalo news, you’d find yourself scratching your head, wondering how you can get some grant money. It can’t be hard. Because the latest technology news from the UB Medical School is that the AMA has granted an unspecified amount of money to the school to create “cloud-based patient simulations” that third-year medical school students can use to test out their skills:
The i-Human Patients platform is a cloud-based service for medical students that simulates a patient visit. Students use the software to interview and examine animations of patients, order and review diagnostic tests, develop diagnostic hypotheses and create a treatment plan. Online guidance and comprehensive feedback occurs at every step of the process.
Ok. So, basically CBT’s for medical students. Really?
I’m sure I’m missing… something. But this strikes me as quite possibly the least-effective possible use of money for medical research. Perhaps the article doesn’t get specific enough with what they’re building, but it seems to me that a Twistaplot book for med students would work just as well. Because you put it “In the Cloud” does not make it newer or better.
I’d love to hear from anyone with more information on this subject. Seriously: tell me I’m wrong.
