The use of computer simulation in teaching clinical diagnosis

Previous studies have shown that feedback of the weighting used in making complex judgements can greatly improve learning when the correct weighting is known. This paper describes the application to teaching medical diagnosis of a microcomputer program which calculates and displays factor weighting based on answers to clinical case simulations. In one application, students learning to diagnose urinary tract infusion with computer feedback of weighting progressed much more rapidly than a control group who received outcome feedback alone. Other applications in the clinical setting suggest that this type of learning can improve diagnostic accuracy and predictive calibration through more accurate assimilation of the clinical information available.