Case study
Keele University
KEELE’S SCHOOL OF PHARMACY
The profession of pharmacy is changing rapidly, with new career opportunities arising from team working with doctors and nurses, both in the community and in hospitals. Keele’s undergraduate course draws on the University’s existing national reputation for training modern pharmacists through its postgraduate programme. Keele has a well-established postgraduate school within The Department of Medicines Management, and a strong network of links with major employers such as Boots and the National Health Service. Keele began offering an undergraduate pharmacy programme in 2006.
KEELE’S VIRTUAL PATIENT
In keeping with its leading edge approach, the Keele Pharmacy team created a training software program known as Virtual Patient. Students are able to interact with the computer generated characters through the use of multiple choice questions or ‘natural’ free text questions. The Virtual Patients can be programmed with different scenarios and medical histories. Virtual Patient is much more flexible than traditional environments that employ actors, thanks to the plethora of scenarios the university has developed from its library of animations. The fact that Virtalis’ ActiveCube provides lifelike peripheral vision makes it a personal and convincing experience.
The students can even break out of the consultation to contact virtual GPs, consultants or receptionists to gather more evidence for the consultation. Not only do the avatars and backdrops used look remarkably realistic, they are endowed with personalities. This means that depending on the outcome of the scenario, the avatars may reprimand the user if unnecessary questions are asked or previous decisions challenged.
Stephen Chapman, Professor of Prescribing Studies and Head of the School of Pharmacy, explained: “Virtual Patient, which features computer generated characters to help our students both communicate and prescribe in a number of scenarios, deserved more than 2D animation if it was to be a believable experience. Specifically, it needed to be immersive.”
Although originally designed as a system for just its students, there is now interest in Virtual Patient from universities and pharmaceutical companies worldwide and the University has applied for a patent.
