[The Development and Application of Virtual Patient in Clinical Training: The New Horizon for Nursing Education]

Clinical problem-solving training that involves hands-on practice with patients is regarded as an important yet challenging aspect of medical education. A majority of schools around the world have suspended face-to-face classes because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although remote digital classes represent a widely adopted alternative approach to education, the format of these classes is poorly suited to clinical learning and examination. With advances in virtual technology using natural language processing and multimedia, virtual patients bring vivid clinical encounters with records and feedback and are able to facilitate learning in the realm of clinical problem-solving. Virtual patients may be used to replace paper cases, human patients, and standardized patients in clinical education. The related applications include virtual problem-based learning in group training, clinical skill examination, and cloud-based virtual training. Integrating online meeting systems with virtual patient systems effectively overcomes the barriers of learning related to distance and isolation. The cloud model is especially important in the pandemic period, as this model allows clinical team work training to continue outside of actual hospital settings. In conclusion, technology-assisted simulation has innovated clinical training and assessment. The success of technology-enhanced education relies on its alignment with students' level of training and targeted learning objectives, especially when coupled with observation and feedback. The success of clinical education will guarantee the improvement of students' clinical competency.