FLUIDMOD: A Versatile CAI System for Medical Students.

FLUIDMOD is an interactive program for student practice and instruction in the medical treatment of fluid and electrolyte problems in human patients. Previous instructional programs in this field have been based on teaching numerous rules applicable to particular problems, which must then be applied by the student to actual patients who supply feedback responses to the therapy. The FLUIDMOD program uses a mathematical model of the patient so that a student at a graphics console may work completely through the sequence of steps of a given therapeutic problem. Thus, he is actively involved in simulated patient management. FLUIDMOD also contains interactive programs to simulate the clinical patient-management environment: doctor's orders, nursing notes, the patient chart and record, etc., are provided. Eventually, FLUIDMOD will contain instructional programs to which the student may branch as required. The utility of using such a system in teaching hospital environments is now being evaluated. (Author)