The Web: Medical school rounds -- online

By Gene J. Koprowski
United Press International

Published 10/27/2004 10:47 AM
CHICAGO, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- A medical student makes his rounds, examining the lacerated foot of a patient, checking in on a newborn baby and visiting with a 90-year-old grandmother. It is a longstanding tradition in the study of medicine -- except this student performs all the tasks with a few simple mouse clicks. What has been done for generations in a hospital setting now is being done on the Internet. Today's medical students are learning to practice medicine on simulated patients, before they ever place a stethoscope on the chest of a real, live cardiac patient."The future is bright for simulations in medical school," Dr. Kate Worzala, co-director of the Jefferson Medical College clinical skills center, a part of Thomas Jefferson University, in Philadelphia, told UPI's The Web. "We are moving more toward being able to prove competencies with simulations. Medical students can show us that they are capable of doing certain procedures-The Web is a weekly series by UPI examining the global telecommunications phenomenon known as the World Wide Web. E-mail sciencemail [at] upi.com