Case Studies In Family Medicine

Abstract

Abstract Case Studies in Family Medicine (CSFM) is a set of eight interactive case studies developed by Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine clinical faculty covering common patient presentations in the family medicine setting. The goal of this learning activity is to enhance instruction in basic clinical reasoning for third-year medical students. It is designed for students' self-paced study to standardize learning across geographically distributed clerkship sites. It is especially useful as content for faculty-moderated online discussions. Each case depicts a common medical problem with specific practical skills to be learned in a context that requires careful attention to cultural competency and other psychosocial factors. Text-based content is enhanced with video vignettes and images. Each case is divided into seven modules to simulate the steps of a patient encounter: background, differential diagnosis, patient history, physical examination, labs diagnostic tests, and treatment. The program presentation is entirely user-driven, requiring students to practice critical thinking and initiative at each step. Students access information in the clinical modules via a database interface with a search window. Rather than selecting clinical activities from a provided list of discrete options, students must enter focused keywords in order to call up relevant points of inquiry. Nothing happens until the student begins to apply his/her existing knowledge to a novel situation.

Keywords

• Asthma
• Smoking Cessation
• Hypertension
• Generalized Anxiety Disorder
• GERD
• Video Vignettes