Creating institutional virtual patients

You can create institutional virtual patients using our Virtual patient creator tool. Click "create virtual patients" to access this tool.

Structure of a virtual patient

Each virtual patient is made up of:

• Key details - type of scenario, title and brief description
• Candidate instructions - describe the context, clinical setting, and what the student must do (e.g. take a history)
• Virtual patient script - outline the patient’s symptoms, history etc (see our tips here)
• Examiner checklist - create a custom checklist or import from our checklist bank
• Viva questions - add optional viva questions to ask at the end of the station
• Useful links - add optional useful links for further reading

Saving and publishing virtual patients

All virtual patients are saved as drafts until you choose to publish them.

• When you create or edit a virtual patient, click Save to store it as a draft. Drafts are only visible to administrators and can be edited at any time.
• You can return to a draft at any point to continue writing or make changes.
• A virtual patient will only become available to your institution’s students once you click Publish.

This ensures you have full control over when students can access a case, and allows you to make edits or test the scenario before it goes live.

Editing a draft virtual patient

All drafts are listed on the Draft virtual patients page. From here, you can open any draft and continue editing until it is ready to publish. Drafts are only visible to institutional administrators.

Testing a draft virtual patient

You can test a draft virtual patient at any time by clicking the Preview button. This launches the virtual patient in the same way a student would see it, allowing you to check that the script works as intended and make sure the interaction feels realistic before publishing.

Updated on: 03/09/2025