We have real patients at Stanford University Medical Center, so why would we want to interact with simulated ones?

Well, for one reason, when the patient is a simulated replica of a real patient, the consequences of a mistaken diagnosis, or even a misguided incision, are much less severe. For another, simulation-based learning often works more efficiently than the traditional method, said Parvati Dev, PhD, the medical school’s associate dean of learning technologies and director of the SUMMIT lab, where many of the school’s simulation tools are developed.

At the clinical informatics seminar on Friday at noon, Dev will give an introduction to simulations. The event takes place in CCSR room 4105. It is open to the public.

Clinical simulations are expected to emerge over the next decade as key learning tools for students and clinicians, said Dev.

“Today, medical students usually learn to do a procedure by reading about it, maybe seeing a video, seeing it done in the hospital – and then they do it. Really, what we want is to insert this simulated activity between the conceptual doing and actual doing. So they can practice and fail and practice and learn before doing it with a real patient,” Dev said.