Implementing an emerging standard in a Web-based Virtual Patients System (Web-SP) - Possibilities and Challenges

Web-SP is a web-based Virtual Patient system developed at Karolinska Institutet with the aim to easily author, run and manage Virtual Patients (VP) for training and assessment purposes. Web-SP was successfully implemented at several universities world-wide. Our presentation will focus on the findings and experience acquired while adapting Web-SP to comply with the MedBiquitous VP XML emerging standard. An important outcome was the rethinking of the lifecycle of VP's to improve their accessibility and reusability. A new VP import/export tool was developed to support the exchange of VP learning content between universities, either as complete packages or via web services.