Computer?Assisted Instruction in Medical Education

Abstract

Techniques of computer‐assisted instruction are most likely to succeed in the decision‐making area of clinical teaching such as diagnosis and patient management. Cost‐effective considerations are more likely to favour the use of systems of self‐instruction such as tape/slide presentations in the acquisition of factual knowledge. A limited area of application of mathematical models of physiological systems where students are given some understanding of the function of the cardiovascular system at an interactive visual terminal is discussed. Several examples of normative and descriptive models of the diagnostic process are reviewed and a detailed description of a normative system using an interactive visual display is given.