Costa Rican medical education embraces Simulation to teach fundoscopy better

Universidad de Ciencias Medicas (UCIMED) in San Jose Costa Rica has become the first accredited medical school in Central America to incorporate high fidelity simulation as a method for teaching clinical skills to medical students.

Given that the vast majority of graduating doctors will ultimately pursue primary care careers excellence in clinical skills is invaluable to ensuring a high standard of care to the patient population. Unfortunately for a host of reasons there has been a steady erosion in the time and quality of how vital clinical skills are taught to medical students.

Through the vision of Dr. Pablo Guzman UCIMED invested in simulation to ensure their medical students received a far more intensive experience in how to perform direct ophthalmoscopy properly and to recognize pathological findings that are commonly found in the patient population.

Dra. María Calvo Castro, Director of the UCIMED Simulation Center, and Dr. Daniel Nieto will oversee the deployment of the Eyesi direct Ophthalmoscope with all UCIMED medical students. With a required rotation for Ophthalmology at UCIMED the new simulator will be used alongside expert instruction. This deployment model will ensure in future that hundreds of graduating doctors will have undergone the most rigorous training for fundoscopic exams so that they can better provide primary care to the people of Costa Rica.

When passionate educators harness the power of virtual reality technology, as is occurring right now at UCIMED in Costa Rica, a profound shift in medical education results. There is no doubt that this educational initiative will in time raise the bar in Central America for how clinical skills are taught to medical students.