Metodologie didattiche per l’integrazione di pazienti virtuali nella formazione del medico

Fifty years has gone by from the first clinical case represented on a computer. That notwithstanding their use is not much diffuse in national and international Medical School. The aim of the paper is to aid and to stimulate teachers to use digital clinical cases suggesting appropriate methodologies to integrate with didactic objectives of courses. First we show software tools available to build virtual patients and where to search for them in online digital repositories that distribute these multimedia resources with a Creative Common License. Then, on the basis of medical literature, we discuss some successful strategies of integration of virtual patients in clinical courses. The use of digital clinical cases is useful also in Medical School with a high number of students.