Zeitschrift für Hochschuldidaktik Nr. 1999/4
Medicine Study 2000
Alternatives for Learning and Assessment, Teaching and Evaluation
Joseph V. HENDERSON (Hanover, NH, USA)
The 'Virtual Practicum': Correcting Descartes' Error With Computers?
Summary
This paper describes a virtual environment to improve clinical education by providing a more comprehensive view of medical education and clinical practice. For the most part, Western medical education subscribes to a Cartesian world view in which practice is viewed as technically rational and mechanistic, addressable by the application of theory-basedfacts and rules. This restricted model of health care largely ignores the psychosocial dimensions of health and illness. It does not prepare students to deal effectively with the real "swamp" of professional practice, particularly in the majority of cases where the variability of human behavior and human situations plays a role. This "Cartesian error" may be partly addressable using emerging methods of technology-based learning, especially virtual environments that incorporate these biopsychosocial aspects.
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