Computer based evaluation of clinical skills

Computers have the potential to evaluate clinical skills in innovative and economical ways. Since no single program can accomplish the complete evaluation, faculty members need to develop strategies to match the desired skill which is to be evaluated with available computer programs. Additionally, the systems should produce information that is not available in equal quality from other sources, should be cost effective, and be relatively easy to create and maintain. This paper describes a medical simulation CAMPS, a multiple choice question generator, PILOT language based interactions and Imaging systems as potential evaluation programs. Experience with CAMPS is described in detail indicating its usefulness and limitations.