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That advantages are clear. You can put students in difficult real world situations where you couldn't ethically put an unqualified person in charge. And you can then repeat things over and over for different students. Perfect for exams.

As you can see the virtual patient has come a long way since I first filmed them back in 2009. Now thanks the sort of immersive technology usually seen in the car industry Keele University can put students through their paces in a virtual hospital ward. Having experienced it myself I can safely say it's an extraordinary achievement. I found myself leaning in to talk to patients as they reacted to my presence.

Perhaps most impressive is how far the virtual patients have come. While the 2009 vintage (on the left in the picture) were definitely human the latest version (on the right) can be programmed to have all sorts of problems the students need to spot. As the models become more refined so the problems become more subtle, right down to a tell-tale tremour in the hands for some patients.

The more realistic the virtual experience, the better the pharmacology students do when unleashed on the real world.

Here's the report;