Demo a SIMPLE Case
To gain a feel for how a SIMPLE case unfolds and how to navigate through it, you can access one case by doing the following:
Click Go to Cases at left. The SIMPLE login page will open.
On the login page, click the Demo a Case button. The case selection page will open.
Read the Privacy Policy. If you select "accept", you will proceed to the case.
On the case selection page, click the underlined case name, "42-year-old African-American with anemia - Ms. Winters". The case will open. Follow the prompts within the case.
Features of a SIMPLE Case
All cases are unknowns to the student — the final clinical diagnosis is not apparent from the Chief Complaint.Cases are delivered as a series of Web pages, called cards.
Parts of a Card
Each card incorporates text, multimedia and/or question and answer formats. The example below shows all these elements:
Hyperlinks are used to add interactivity within the case, and to provide access to important resources available on the Internet. Importantly, the SIMPLE software does not allow students to skip to the end of a case without working through the complete clinical scenario.
The Expert
Cases incorporate an “Expert” — the case author who provides additional learning beyond the scope of the curriculum, but nonetheless important to a full understanding of the clinical issues. The example below shows the button that's clicked to open the Expert frame, which is also shown:
Diagnostic Network
Most cases incorporate a differential diagnosis “network” that allows students to hone their clinical reasoning skills by developing an appropriate differential diagnosis and creating connections to the key clinical findings within the case. Students are also given the opportunity to compare their clinical reasoning to that of the case Expert. An Expert's network is shown below:
Navigating
As students work their way through a case, the software automatically creates a Clipboard that summarizes the clinical findings discovered in the case. The Clipboard feature also allows the student easy navigation back and forth within the case. A pull-down menu at the top of the card also allows the user to jump to a particular card. The Clipboard button and pulldown menu are shown below:
