printed by THE USE OF MEDEdPORTAL TO TEACH AND ASSESS THE MENTAL STATUS EXAMINATION IN A SECOND YEAR CLINICAL SKILLS COURSE Jose Ginel Rodriguez, MD, FAAP, Nereida Diaz, PhD, Jose L. Oliver, DMD Universidad Central del Caribe, School Of Medicine, Bayamon, P.R. Students who answered the i ‐ clickers quiz (n=56) reported that in average they needed 20 minutes to complete the module. Participants rated how helpful was the MedEdPORTAL VP case on helping to acquire the mental status examination skills and how helpful was the VP case to identify possible psychopathologies were 4.1 and 3.9 respectively (Likert Scale: 5=Strongly agree, 1= Strongly Disagree). 77% of participants found the VP MedEdPORTAL and the power point presentation useful. Overall 88% of students rated the MedEdPORTAL mental status module as excellent. Qualitative data highlighted that the module was excellent for the purpose that was used and that provided fundamental knowledge for the clinical skills laboratory. Some reported difficulty to download the module basically because of computer problems. Using a MedEdPORTAL Virtual Patient module we introduced an interactive mental status virtual patient case to second year students in a mental status lecture prepared in power point for a clinical skills course. After finishing the session the lecture was posted in the Blackboard platform where students can access it 24/7 to review the content before scheduling a mental status laboratory in our clinical skills center. The power point also stress horizontal and vertical integration with the basic science concepts taught at the Neuroscience course and the Human and Gross Anatomy; and the clinical application to some psychopathology. After student studied the power point with the MedEdPORTAL mental status VP case, a 10 item quiz was administered using the i ‐ clikers tool to assess how comfortable they felt on the mental status basic concept, time to complete the module and how helpful was the tool for their mental status examination laboratory. Students also responded a satisfaction survey that asked them to rate the Mededportal VP case including content, navigability and pertinence to their clinical skills course laboratory. 1.Thomas Bernard, Amy Stevens, Peggy Wagner, Nicole Bernard, Christopher Oxendine, Kyle Johnsen, Robert Dickerson, Andrew Raji, Benjamin Lok, Margaret Duerson, Marc Cohen, Lori Schumacher, Garrett J. Harper, and D. Scott Lind, A Multi-Institutional Pilot Study to Evaluate the Use of Virtual Patients to Teach Health Professions Students History- Taking and Communication Skills, Simulation in Healthcare: The Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, 1 (2006), no. 2, 92—93, 2. Thomas Bernard, Amy Stevens, Peggy Wagner, Nicole Bernard, Christopher Oxendine, Kyle Johnsen, Robert Dickerson, Andrew Raji, Benjamin Lok, Margaret Duerson, Marc Cohen, Lori Schumacher, Garrett J. Harper, and D. Scott Lind, A Multi-Institutional Pilot Study to Evaluate the Use of Virtual Patients to Teach Health Professions Students History- Taking and Communication Skills, Simulation in Healthcare: The Journal of the Society for Simulation in Healthcare, 1 (2006), no. 2, 92—93, Abstracts Presented at the 6th Annual International Meeting on Medical Simulation, issn Benjamin Lok, Richard E. Ferdig, Andrew Raij, Kyle Johnsen, Robert Dickerson, Jade Coutts, Amy Stevens, and D. Scott Lind, Applying Virtual Reality in Medical Communication Education: Current Findings and Potential Teaching and Learning Benefits of Immersive Virtual Patients, Virtual Reality, 10 (2006), no. 3-4, 185—195, issn Our second year medical students can enhance their clinical skills, specifically with regard to the mental status examinations using the VP modality. Students perceive their exposure to the VP module to be a positive experience despite the lack of real patient or teacher contact. For an optimal learning environment, students must have access to computers with appropriate software and speakers. Satisfaction with the VP module is directly linked to successful access to audio and video files. The use of VP patients is going to be a permanent tool in the clinical skills course at our institution. Plans are underway to use VP in other aspects of the curriculum for the clinical year, specifically to fulfill the LCME standard that asked for alternative methods to assure proper encounters with minimal diagnosis in each clerkship. This study investigates the effects of a virtual patient in a second year clinical skills course and the appreciation of students to this teaching strategy as part of students' ability of a mental status examination. The following paper describes the use of a MedEdPortal virtual patient to enhance the learning process during a second year Clinical Skills course. BACKGROUND PURPOSE AND HYPOTHESIS MATERIALS AND METHODS RESULTS CONCLUSIONS BIBLIOGRAPHY Figure 2 Figure 1 Qualitative data highlighted : That the module was excellent for the clinical skills lab. That some unclear terminology was used. Some reported difficulty to download the module basically because of computer problems. That provided fundamental knowledge for the clinical sk ills lab. Virtual patients are a novel teaching tool currently used in medical schools¹. Considered as effective in teaching and assessment as other widely used methods, in most cases, virtual and simulated patients are preferred by students². Virtual patients have been used for training of medical and dental students in various institutions. However, there are few reports on the effects of virtual patients on students' clinical skills³. Grant Award # P031S Federal Education Department-Title V (Part A) Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI) Program