Virtual patients show larger advantages over passive traditional learning (lectures, reading) than over active learning¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · quant-synthesis r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2019 · checked against its sources 2026-10-18 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Albatross plot visualization suggests virtual patients beat passive forms of traditional education with large effects, but show small or even negative effects versus active learning such as group discussion or mannequin-based training. → Kononowicz AA 2019

q2 i? Albatross plot analysis suggests comparisons of virtual patients with passive forms of learning display large positive effect sizes, whereas comparisons with active learning show small or even negative effects. → Kononowicz AA 2019

Evidence¶

Kononowicz AA 2019¶

Kononowicz AA, Woodham LA, Edelbring S, Stathakarou N, Davies D, Saxena N, Tudor Car L, Carlstedt-Duke J, Car J, Zary N. (2019). Virtual Patient Simulations in Health Professions Education: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis by the Digital Health Education Collaboration. Journal of Medical Internet Research. https://doi.org/10.2196/14676

q2 · i? · quant-synthesis · r3

Exploratory visual analysis of albatross plots (Figures 6 and 7) after planned subgroup analyses failed to explain heterogeneity. The review frames this as a hypothesis: "replacing passive forms of traditional education with virtual patients brings more benefit than replacing active learning methods".

"Comparisons of virtual patients to passive forms of learning (reading exercises and lectures) tended to display large positive effect sizes, whereas those comparing virtual patients to active learning (group discussion or mannequin-based learning) show small effects or even negative effects (left hand side in the Figures 6 and 7 and Multimedia Appendix 6)."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Simulation Based Education Improves Outcomes — a broader claim this one bears on
• Virtual patients are as effective as traditional education for knowledge outcomes (pooled SMD=0.11) — related
• Virtual patients are more effective than traditional education for skills outcomes (pooled SMD=0.90) — related
• Discussion promotes more active thinking than lecture, though lecture is no worse for transmitting information — related
• In the few trials comparing them, virtual patients showed no significant knowledge differences versus other digital education, and skills differences in only one of three studies — related
• Virtual patients blended with traditional education show moderate positive skills effects, but the pooled interval crosses zero — related
• Virtual patients blended with traditional education improve knowledge more than traditional education alone (pooled SMD=0.73) — related