Clinical Vignettes

[Mikado]

What are Clinical Vignettes used for?

What exactly is a 'Vignette'?

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[Jamier2]

Been wondering the same thing. I think it's a case study or something like it.

 

[Winged Scapula]

A vignette is a brief scene from a movie or play; a short descriptive piece of literary writing; a painting, drawing, or photograph that has no border but is gradually faded into its background at the edges; or a small decorative design printed at the beginning or end of a book or chapter of a book, or in the margin of a page.

In the situation I am sure you are referring to a clinical vignette is simple a short descriptive piece of writing describing a clinical scene - ie, a 65 yo male patient comes into your ER complaining of acute chest pain radiating to the left arm and shortness of breath...blah blah blah

These are being used increasingly to teach medicine, in PBL as well as on the USMLEs.

Hope this helps.

 

[Mango]

Since the USMLE has switched to the Vignette format, many med schools have followed. For instance, all of our Anatomy exams are written in the clinical vingette format. So instead of asking stright identification type questions, you get:

"A 24 year old white male comes to the ER after having been stabbed in the back just medial to the blade of his left scapula. Which structures, in order, did the blade pass through?"