i-Human Patients® by Kaplan to Host Free, Live Streaming Virtual Simulation Event for Physicians in Training: Determining if the Diagnosis is COVID-19 or Influenza

You have 100 patients in your waiting room, all with complaints. The incidents of influenza A outstrips those of COVID-19, but infection rates are on the rise. Your clinic was only provided 25 kits for COVID-19, so who gets tested? These are the hard questions doctors are making every day on the frontlines.

With third and fourth year medical students sidelined from clinical rotations due to the COVID-19 outbreak, i-Human Patients by Kaplan, a leader in cloud-based, interactive patient encounter simulations for medical and nursing professionals, will host an interactive, live online event at 1 PM ET on Tuesday, March 31, to demonstrate how a doctor might diagnose a patient showing signs of COVID-19.

The event is geared towards doctors in training, from pre-meds to fourth year medical students, as well as healthcare professionals who make diagnoses, such as physician assistants and nurse practitioner students. During the event, Dr. Judy Kalinyak, MD, PhD, vice president and director of clinical simulations, i-Human Patients by Kaplan, will introduce attendees to a virtual patient who is showing symptoms of COVID-19, and play out a full exam—from patient history all the way through to diagnosis. Dr. Kalinyak will interact with the event attendees, who are encouraged to suggest what to ask the patient to help identify if he actually has the virus, which is now affecting millions of people across the globe and has dramatically unsettled the world’s economy.

“Now with virtual patient simulation, we can train new students and hone the skills of practicing clinicians on how to diagnose new diseases rapidly and effectively without the risk of exposure,” said Dr. Kalinyak.

While doctors and nurses are in the trenches helping patients infected with COVID-19, medical school students are heeding the call to action too. Some of these physicians in training, for example, have created infographics and shareable videos to educate the public about the pandemic, while others have held mask drives for local hospitals. Recognizing the emergency, at least one medical school wants its students practicing even before the semester is over. NYU's Grossman School of Medicine this week announced that it plans to allow senior students to graduate early in response to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's "directive to get more physicians into the health system more quickly," the school said in a statement. And there could be a lot more where that came from. Last week, the Association of American Medical Colleges recommended that medical students end contact with patients for at least two weeks, freeing up potentially 90,000 aspiring doctors for the time being.

For more information about the event or to speak with Dr. Kalinyak, contact Russell Schaffer at [email protected] or 917.822.8190.

To pre-register, visit https://shop.kaptest.com/i/covidcase.

About i-Human Patients by Kaplan

i-Human Patients (www.i-human.com), part of Kaplan, Inc. is dedicated to enabling active e-learning in healthcare to promote the delivery of high quality, cost-effective care, and to ensure an adequate supply of healthcare providers fully trained in patient assessment and diagnostic reasoning.

Note to editors: Kaplan is a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company (NYSE: GHC)

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