A Travel Guide to your "Mini-Fellowship"

What you do -and the order in which you do it-is up to you. That said, here's a recommended path to the program, one of several you might take.

First, insert your CD, launch the program, and sign in to the mini-fellowship. It's important that you use the same first and last name each time you log on if you want to maintain your progress records, especially if you are using the program to get continuing education credit.

Once past the credit and disclaimer screens (click the mouse to hurry these along), you'll be offered an Orientation. It only takes a few minutes and gives a good overview of the Clinic and the things you can do there.

Patient Roster: The core of the program lies in interacting with simulated patients, which you access from the Roster in the hallway. With each patient, you'll be asked to assess and counsel your patient(s), and make decisions about their care.

Conference Room: At the end of each patient visit, Dr. McCabe will offer to discuss issues raised by that encounter. He'll tell you what topics will be covered, who will be discussing the case, and how long they'll take so you'll know what to expect. You can return to these case discussions at any time by going to the Conference Room.

Counseling Room: The counseling room provides two examples of "best practice" genetics counseling. These video segments are abridged counseling sessions that emphasize the issues of immediate concern to their patients.

After getting some experience with a simulated patient or two, you might head down the hall to the Learning Resources Room. The Patient Interviews kiosk on the right lets you meet some remarkable people. Do one or more of the interviews; they don't last more than a couple of minutes each.

Lectures: The Lectures area on the left lists some topics you may be interested in. Each lecture can be done in their entirety (usually 5 to 10 minutes each) or by subtopic.

Internet access: You can access pertinent World Wide Web links from the middle kiosk in the Learning Resources room. Assuming you have a connection to the Internet established, clicking on the graphic of the computer will launch your default web browser application, enabling you to visit some approved Internet sites. When you are ready to return to the Virtual Clinic, click on the minimized tab "Genetics in Clinical Practice" on your Windows taskbar (usually at the bottom of your screen.)