Raphaël Mille, Oana Ţănculescu, Raluca-Maria Vieriu, Zenaida Surlari, Elena Luca, Arina-Alice Ciocan-Pendefunda, Laura Elisabeta Checheriță, Ovidiu Aungurencei, Dragoş Virvescu, Adrian Doloca
Abstract
OpenLabyrinth is an accessible open-source VP authoring system. The development and use of virtual patient software is of interest for an increasing number of universities and training facilities. Medical training at different levels can greatly benefit from this computer-based training due to a number of advantages. Dental schools have a particular opportunity to diversify the training methods for their students considering the specifics of the diagnosis and therapeutic processes and the multi-media capabilities offered by the virtual patient authoring systems. For the exemplification of authoring and usage of a virtual patient for dental training, we selected OpenLabyrinth. The necessary steps in authoring the VP are presented and discussed in detail. The benefits, the downsides and the limitations of this type of training and assessment are presented in the context of the dental VP. However, taking into account all sensible points of this training concept we conclude that the benefits greatly exceed the disadvantages.