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Each educational institution decides how to use PKB, including whether they want to have patient volunteers or case study - fictitious- patients. These are the three options:
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Models
Module 1
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Our simulated model with fictitious, case study patients, has been used in the years in different ways, here are a few examples:
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Universities create case study patients in the Education server. Students are then able to look at that record and add data to it, as well as complete care plans and discuss the medical case with tutors and colleagues. When appropriate, PKB will create the case studies on behalf of the university, based on the data provided by the education institution itself.
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: Volunteer role-play
The first model of use, which involves actual patient volunteers or actors, offers students the most comprehensive and authentic experience with the platform. It allows them to effectively emulate their roles as healthcare professionals in a progressively digitised healthcare system, where remote patient interactions are becoming more prevalent.
In fact, through PKB, students and patients can communicate with each other via the platform’s secure messaging function, elevating the experience to a very realistic level.
Note: patient volunteers do not use their real PKB record but create one on the education server. These individuals can conceal their identity if they wish but MUST NOT enter their real health care identifiers number.
Recruiting volunteer patients:
Some educators ask existing volunteers – individuals with real health/medical conditions who work with students – to use PKB to complement their already existing work with students.
Some educators recruit volunteers in their communities. PKB can support the university in creating comms materials for this - such as leaflets or posters.
Model 2: Students role-play
Some universities opt not to involve patients; instead, they have their students participate in a role-playing activity where they take on the roles of both patients and healthcare professionals.
For example, at City University Midwifery course, half of the students play the role of the Midwife, and half play the role of the parent-to-be, working on shared care planning within a case study scenario which was invented by the module lead. The students interact
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with each other on the platform
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2. Hybrid: fictitious records and real patients on Education server
In the hybrid model, the students work with patient volunteers or actors.
The earliest use of PKB for medical education purposes by University of Leicester Medical School started out with medical students using the platform to hone their digital communication skills. They practiced with fictitious patients acted out by individual volunteers. The Leicester team defined a database of fictitious patients - giving these individuals fake names, demographics, illnesses, medications, and allergies. A handful of volunteers operated the PKB platform and role-played their fictitious identity and their corresponding health in the PKB platform.
In some other universities, there are patient volunteers that are happy to bring their genuine health experiences and information, and interact with the students through our platform. Working with real patients gives students more authenticity. However, they do not use their real PKB record but create one on the education record. These individuals can conceal their identity if they wish but MUST NOT enter their real health care identifiers number.
Recruiting volunteer patients:
Some educators ask existing volunteers – individuals with real health/medical conditions who work with students – to use PKB’s education server
Some educators recruit in their communities
3. Live: real records of real patients on Production server
In this model, real patients open up their real record on our Production server to students so these can learn directly about real care and authentic records.
Students will look at the records under direct tutor supervision to ensure safeguarding of the patients' data.
The educators can ask their existing volunteers who already have real PKB records or recruit new volunteers who are willing to share their records. Educators can ask PKB to sign-post to existing PKB patients that the institution is recruiting volunteers., simulate appointments and communicate through PKB messaging function.
The same was done at Liverpool John Moores University, with pharmacy students.
Model 3: Case study record
This model of use does not involve interaction with other people, being them patient volunteers, actors or students playing the role of the patients.
Universities choosing this utilisation pattern create - with PKB’s support - their own case study patients and put them in the Education side of the platform i.e. education server. Students are then able to look at that record, reviewing for example conditions, medications, blood results, and add data to it, as well as complete care plans and discuss the medical case with tutors and colleagues.
The case study patients can be, depending on the case:
Created manually by the teaching team;
Created by PKB on behalf of the university, based on the data provided by the education institution itself;
Chosen by the institution from a pool of pre-existing patients available on PKB.
Implementation Plan for Education
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Coordinator invites each student to register using the educational email address of the student
Each student registers for a PKB professional account to use the platform
If agreed with the educators, your PKB Project Manager will provide an introduction to Patients Know Best and a demonstration of how to use the platform to all students during a lecture (remotely)
Educators provide students scenarios, guidance and protocol around how to use PKB, this can include:
Do’s and don’ts of PKB/online etiquette
What functionality will you encourage the students to use
What rules will be applied to the student teams in PKB - how they curate responses to volunteer patients in the platform - encourage shared decision making
Setting up
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patient volunteers/actors
All patient users on PKB’s education server are volunteers and these individuals are ‘actors’ in the environment. But bear in mind that you don’t need to have patients volunteers in order having patient volunteers is not a condition you have to satisfy to use PKB with students: you can create decide to have case study patients or to have your students role-play.
Educators must decide how many patient users they need for their studentstudents. Typically, one patient user is needed for each group of students: the students need to have one patient user to interact with, and the patient user’s record should not be available to other students so interactions are separate across student groups. A single volunteer can still be acting with multiple patient users with multiple logins, supporting multiple student groups.
To register the patient users, the Teams' coordinators should:
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The teams' coordinators will be trained by PKB on how to invite patients to the platform. The process will be similar to the one described below:
PKB Project Manager will send to the coordinator the template of a spreadsheet that the coordinator will fill in with the patients' names and email addresses.
Each user needs an email address to receive the invite and fictitious demographics. Patients who don’t want to use their normal email address can set up another one free of charge on Gmail.com or hotmail.com and can do so with a fictitious identity.
Upload the CSV The coordinator will upload the spreadsheet to the umbrella team of your organisation
Pre-populate the fictitious patients’ records as required, e.g. with diagnoses, symptoms and allergies etc.
Give your fictitious patients a script and instructions to use PKB (PKB Project Manager to send the instructions)
Allocate each patient user to the relevant student team
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the organisation and then allocate each patient user to the relevant student team
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Alternatively, the coordinator can add each patient to the correct team, without the need to fill in the spreadsheet.
PKB Project Manager will provide user guides that the teams' coordinator can share with patients.
Setting up case study records
The teams' coordinators will be trained by PKB on how to create case study patients. The process will be similar to the one described below:
Coordinator creates dummy emails for the case study patients
Coordinator invites the case study patients to register, then completes registration
Coordinator decides who’s the person in charge of adding data to the fictitious patient’s record
Person in charge logs in as a patient and add data to the record.
When appropriate, to make the process less admin intensive for educators, PKB will create the case studies on behalf of the university, based on the data provided by the education institution itself. This is done for example when the same case study needs to be replicated for a number of times.
PKB also has available a pool of pre-made case study records that the education institutions can use with their students.
While you are using PKB
Your PKB Project Manager will be available for support , and will send you statistics about your students' engagement on the platform. Let us know if there are specific stats you’d like to see.
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user feedback
intentions for the future use of PKB
whether it’s it is possible to write a use case/case study about the use of PKB by that institution
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