Virtual Clinic Enables Learners to Gain Practical Care Experience

As the population of older adults continues to grow, the need for reliable, practical training to support age‑friendly care has never been greater. Whether you’re caring for patients at the bedside, teaching students in health professions, or leading improvement work in your organization, building skills around age-friendly care can be useful both personally and professionally.

To support that learning, the IHI Open School offers PFC 203: Providing Age‑Friendly Care to Older Adults, a free course you can take whenever works best for you. This on-demand course offers 1.25 continuing education (CE) credits for nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and physicians. Additionally, an engaging virtual clinic activity at the end of the course allows you to walk through different patient/provider experiences, working interactively to improve care for older adults in various scenarios. 

A Quick Introduction to Age‑Friendly Care

The Age-Friendly Health Systems movement is designed to meet the growing needs of older adults by transforming how care is delivered. Participants aim to follow an essential set of evidence-based practices, cause no harm, and align with What Matters to older adults and their family caregivers.

This work is grounded in the 4Ms Framework of an Age-Friendly Health Systems: What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility. These four elements guide clinicians, teams, and organizations in delivering reliable, equitable, high‑quality care to all older adults across all settings and interactions.

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The PFC 203 course introduces each M using real clinical scenarios, making it a strong foundation for anyone new to the framework or interested in a concise refresher. As more health systems work to fully embed age-friendly care across all their sites and settings of care, the course can provide a foundation and common language as part of training to expand age-friendly care, or as onboarding for staff joining established age-friendly teams.

This free resource can support both independent and group learning. After completing the module, learners enter a simulated clinical environment where they can practice applying the 4Ms to realistic patient scenarios. Individual clinicians and students can take the course and complete the scenarios on their own.

One learner in the Open School said: “I liked how the Virtual Clinic allowed me to apply clinical reasoning in a safe, realistic environment. It helped me practice decision-making, prioritize care, and collaborate with other team members without the pressure of a real-life setting.”

Educators or preceptors can assign the module, ask learners to complete the virtual clinic, and then facilitate a group debrief to deepen understanding. One educator who used the course explained, “Having students do the module and the virtual clinic flips the classroom and helps learning to go deeper.”

Continue your age-friendly journey with the Certified Professional in Age-Friendly Care (CPAFH) distinction

Tips to Access the Free Course:

First, sign in or create a free account at My IHI:

• Returning users: Enter your username and password and click Sign in.
• New users: select Create an account at the bottom of the page and follow the prompts.

Next, enroll in the course:

• Log into the IHI Education Platform using this link with your IHI account credentials: https://education.ihi.org
• Scroll down and select “Search Catalog” on the right side of the page, beside the magnifying glass. Type in “PFC 203” and hit enter or click on the magnifying glass to search.
• In the results, click the Enroll button next to PFC 203: Providing Age-Friendly Care to Older Adults.
• You’ll be taken to your Learning Center. Click the Launch button next to the course to begin. When you complete the course, you’ll be invited into the virtual clinic to apply your learning.
• To return to the course at any time, log into the IHI Education Platform with your credentials and go to your Learning Center. 

Step-by-Step Guidance for Navigating the Virtual Clinic

The creation of the virtual clinic was led by Case Western Reserve University and CVS Minute Clinic. It is a rich resource that can be run through many times. It can take a little time to settle in, so here are a few tips for getting started: 

• Look for the “Launch Simulation” button after completing the PFC 203 course. The button appears as the next module in the course sequence. You can review tutorial steps or watch a quick video to get familiar with the clinic.
• Start by selecting a patient. After the simulation loads, you’ll see a patient list. Click any patient to begin.
• Choose your scenario. You’ll be prompted to select either:
  • Practice Mode – Lets you retry missed answers and explore freely (great place to start if it’s your first time)
  • Scored Mode – A more structured version that tracks your performance (but is still designed just for your own learning)
• Use the speech bubbles to advance the encounter. Patient dialogue and clinical information appear as speech bubbles. Click the bubble to move the conversation forward and reveal new details.
• Add 4Ms assessments using the 4Ms logo. Look for the 4Ms logo during the encounter. Clicking it lets you add relevant 4Ms actions — What Matters, Medication, Mentation, and Mobility — to the patient visit. As you add each M, you’ll see new dialogue bubbles or assessment options appear.
• Explore the clickable spaces. You can click on different features, which may include:
  • A patient list
  • A chart or care plan. This is where key information aligned with the 4Ms typically appears, such as What Matters statements, Medication review, Mentation screens, and Mobility assessment prompts.
  • A nurse’s station
  • Navigation arrows or room icons
• Explore additional assessments and results. The virtual clinic allows you to:
  • Order additional assessments
  • View results
  • Revisit earlier decisions — nothing is locked. It’s designed for exploration, so don’t hesitate to try different pathways.
• Experiment and review the instructions panel. Each scenario includes instructions or a help section that explains:
  • How the 4Ms connect
  • How to score higher
  • How your choices influence the patient’s care

In the virtual clinic, the connections across the 4Ms stand out. One Open School learner shared, “The connections portion really helped solidify the 4Ms Framework and how it can be applied to every aspect of care.” An educator said, “The connections section of the virtual clinic helps students to think critically. It forces them to connect the data to uncover the important part of care delivery.”

We encourage learners to play around with the interface, make connections among the 4Ms, and repeat scenarios for deeper practice. As you do, reflect on these questions:

• Which M felt easiest or hardest to assess?
• What surprised you about the patient’s goals?
• How might these insights change your team’s practice — how you act on the 4Ms?

Photo by @nappystudio on Unsplash.

You may also be interested in:

• Ideas for Sharing My Health Checklist with Older Adults and Those Who Support Them
• 4Ms System-Wide Spread resources
• How Trainings and Simulations Improved Real-World Care and Outcomes