 
Reviewed by John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on August 11, 2010Â
A new survey of medical students finds a strong interest in using video games and virtual reality environments to practice role-playing and strategy games for physician training.
Actually, it should be no surprise because today’s students were raised with a digital mouse in their hands.
A reported 98 percent of medical students surveyed at the University of Michigan and University of Wisconsin-Madison liked the idea of using technology to enhance their medical education.
The study is published online in BMC Medical Education.
For example, a virtual environment could help medical students learn how to interview a patient or run a patient clinic. In the survey, 80 percent of students said computer games can have an educational value.
The study helps dispel the stereotype of video games as the exclusive purview of adolescent loners. Instead they may be used as advanced teaching tools that fit an emerging learning style, authors say.
“Due in large part to their high degree of technological literacy, today’s medical students are a radically different audience than the students of 15 to 20 years ago,†Frederick W. Kron, M.D., says of the so-called millennial generation.
“They are actually more comfortable in image-rich environments than with text.â€
Read in Full:Â http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/08/11/medical-school-education-from-video-games/16680.html
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