Pedagotchi

During medical school, a valuable wealth of specialist knowledge is accumulated. Prospective colleagues in clinical practice and new medical colleagues starting their careers face the challenge of translating this specialist knowledge into clinical decision-making and clinical action. This is precisely where Pedagotchi comes in, enabling practice in clinical decision-making using realistic case vignettes in the pediatric emergency room setting and in everyday pediatric practice. The app stores the medical history, physical examination findings, and laboratory results, as well as imaging procedures (ultrasound, X-ray), and consultations for the case vignettes. These can be collected individually by the player, in any order and in any length. The findings are collected in a digital patient record. The case concludes with the diagnosis and the clinical decision for the case. Here, the players must not only decide which clinical picture most likely underlies the symptoms, but also how this should be treated. Is immediate inpatient admission necessary? Is further invasive diagnostics, urgent surgery, or intensive care monitoring indicated? Can outpatient treatment with follow-up in the practice be performed? After the case is closed, the resolution follows, and a detailed model solution for diagnosis and clinical decision-making provides background information on the clinical picture and its management. Pedagotchi was developed as an e-learning component of a blended learning format, in which the asynchronously played cases from the app can be debriefed and discussed in depth in small groups under medical supervision. This provides an excellent opportunity to build on the knowledge acquired during the self-study phase and to discuss open questions, possible differential diagnoses, and complications during the course of the disease with the support of experienced clinical colleagues. Pedagotchi was conceived at the Center for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and has so far been successfully offered as an elective course at the MHH and the University Hospital Bonn. From 2025, the Pedagotchi app will be part of the MHH curriculum. A sample pediatrics shift is available for interested users to play freely. Access to the content of courses offered by MHH and other cooperating institutions is restricted by a token. If you are interested in collaborating or using the teaching format or app, please contact us at kontakt@pedgatochi.de. Pedagotchi is a project of the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and was funded by the Foundation for Innovation in Higher Education.