The Minnesota Virtual Clinic: using a simulated EMR to teach medical students basic science and clinical concepts.

The Minnesota Virtual Clinic is a web-based educational tool using a simulated EMR to expose students to critical basic science and clinical concepts in the context of patient care. The clinic enrolls a group of simulated patients representing a variety of conditions and cultural backgrounds and follows them over time. Students "attend" the clinic weekly to review the latest developments for its patients. The underlying tools facilitate a variety of educational links for any item of information from simple popup windows for definitions to illustrative images and interactive student exercises. At the same time it provides and introduction to certain informatics practices including basic security and use of an EMR for patient care.