Computer-assisted learning and evaluation in medicine
T. E. Piemme
Office of Continuing Medical Education, George Washington University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20037.
The use of the computer in medical education has been in evolutionary
development since the early 1960s; its adoption, however, has been less
widespread than the promise of the medium should warrant. Computer-assisted
instruction enhances learning, allowing the student the discretion of
content, time, place, and pace of instruction. Information conveyed can
take several forms, some better suited to undergraduate medical education,
others more applicable to graduate and continuing education. The use of the
computer in certification and licensure could, within a decade, transform
the way competence is assessed. Its greatest promise, however, may lie in
providing pertinent information at the time when, and in the place where,
patient care takes place. New developments in data storage and retrieval
forecast applications that could not have been imagined even a year or two
ago.
