Table of Contents
What Is the iHuman Patients Guide?
The iHuman Patients Guide is a comprehensive instructional manual designed to help nursing, medical, and physician assistant students navigate the i-Human Patients (IHP) Case Player, a cloud-based virtual simulation platform that enables learners to interview, examine, diagnose, and treat virtual patients while developing clinical reasoning and patient assessment skills. It serves as a step-by-step reference for using the platform effectively, covering everything from logging in and taking patient histories to building differential diagnoses, ordering diagnostic tests, and writing SOAP notes.
Overview of the i-Human Patients Platform
The i-Human Patients (IHP) Case Player is a high-performance, cloud-based multimedia case authoring and playback system now owned and operated by Kaplan. Based in Santa Clara, California, the platform works through an internet browser — without requiring any apps or downloads — and was designed to improve learners’ diagnostic reasoning skills and patient outcomes. HealthySimulation.com Founded in 2000 as Summit Performance Group, LLC, and privately held as i-Human Patients, Inc., the company became a leader in interactive e-learning solutions for healthcare learners and clinicians. In February 2018, Kaplan acquired i-Human Patients, expanding Kaplan’s healthcare portfolio, which serves doctors, nurses, physician assistants, pharmacists, and emergency medical professionals. HealthySimulation.com
The guide addresses the platform’s core educational mission: bridging the gap between classroom theory and real-world clinical practice in a safe, risk-free environment where students can make mistakes and learn from expert feedback without endangering actual patients.
Core Goals Outlined in the Guide
The iHuman Patients Guide describes the program as being designed to help students achieve several key goals: learning how to assess a patient by asking the right questions and performing appropriate physical exams; learning a structured diagnostic-reasoning process that includes writing a concise problem statement, selecting and ranking hypotheses (differential diagnoses), and ordering and interpreting tests; developing a treatment and management plan; and learning basic-science concepts that underlie the clinical aspects of each case. Onlinenursingpapers
These goals align with the broader purpose of preparing students for high-stakes licensing exams such as the NCLEX-RN and board examinations for physician assistants and medical doctors.
History-Taking and Physical Examination
A foundational element of the iHuman Patients Guide is its detailed explanation of how to conduct a patient history and physical examination. Most clinical interactions begin with taking the patient’s history, a process that should be systematic and complete. IHP helps students develop question efficiency — that is, limiting questions to those appropriate for the patient’s chief complaint, associated symptoms, and pertinent past medical history. The patient’s history is the subjective portion of the assessment and reflects the patient’s self-assessment and memory of events. Onlinenursingpapers
Following the history, students proceed to the physical examination. The physical examination is the next component of patient evaluation. Students select and perform various exams driven by the history of the present illness and any supportive information. The goal is to perform a targeted and efficient physical examination by selecting only those exam components relevant to, and otherwise suggested by, the patient’s presentation. Onlinenursingpapers
Building the Problem List and Problem Statement
The guide provides clear guidance on how to construct an accurate and organized problem list. The problem list should include all key findings (abnormalities) throughout the entire history-gathering process, encompassing the chief complaint, history of current illness including all associated symptoms, review of systems, past medical history, family history, and social history. It should also be inclusive of all key findings throughout all aspects of the physical examination, including vital signs, mental status, and the general exam. Onlinenursingpapers
Once the problem list is compiled, students are directed to write a problem statement. The problem statement is a succinct paragraph that synthesizes patient identifiers such as age, gender, and race/ethnicity if pertinent, along with the presenting complaint and key findings translated into medical terminology. It should be concise and complete, but not a simple restatement of the problem list — key findings should be consolidated if they relate to the same problem or potential diagnosis. Studocu
Differential Diagnosis and Diagnostic Testing
After selecting hypotheses, students rank them as leading (one or two hypotheses highest on the differential), alternative (possible but less likely), and they may also mark each hypothesis as “must-not-miss” — a disease or condition which, if missed, could result in severe consequences, including the patient’s death. Students then choose appropriate diagnostic studies to test their hypotheses. Studocu
One of the largest reasons students lose points — or even fail — an iHuman case is that they overlook the “must-not-miss” diagnosis. This is not merely any diagnosis; it is the high-priority or life-threatening condition that must be identified to establish patient safety in real-life clinical situations. Acemynursingpapers
Learning Modes and Feedback
The guide explains that the platform operates in two distinct modes to support different stages of learning. In learning mode, students receive real-time guidance, corrections, and feedback from the embedded expert system as they progress through each case section. In test mode, no feedback is provided and the student’s choices are not corrected, simulating real examination conditions.
Through working with i-Human Patients, learners are able to receive in-depth online guidance, feedback, and coaching at every step of their individual learning process. The IHP software platform simulates a complete medical patient encounter with animated avatars, human physiology and pathophysiology, virtual histopathology, and 3D anatomy. HealthySimulation.com
Documentation and SOAP Notes
The iHuman Documentation Guide instructs students to use the Patient Record to document pertinent information related to the history and physical exam. For the chief complaint, students are directed to provide a brief statement identifying why the patient is there — in the patient’s own words. Physical exam documentation should be limited to findings pertinent to the focused assessment based on the chief complaint, with separate documentation of pertinent positive and pertinent negative findings. OnlineNursingPapers
Impact on Clinical Education
Since 2013, i-Human Patients has been providing virtual clinical encounters to medical, graduate nursing, and physician assistant students, and cases are now available for undergraduate nursing students as well. The platform is completely aligned with the Next Generation NCLEX and the clinical judgment model theorized by the NCSBN. Kaplan Test Prep
In summary, the iHuman Patients Guide is an essential resource for any healthcare student using the IHP platform, offering a structured, evidence-based framework for developing the clinical judgment skills necessary for both academic and professional success.
References
i-Human Patients, Inc. (n.d.). i-Human Patients student manual. Studocu. https://www.studocu.com/en-us/document/walden-university/synthesis-in-advanced-nursing-practice-of-patients-in-primary-care-settings/i-human-patients-case-player-student-manual/64643837
Kaplan. (n.d.). iHuman virtual simulation. https://www.i-human.com/
Kaplan Test Prep. (n.d.). Virtual simulation for undergraduate nursing with i-Human Patients. https://www.kaptest.com/blogs/nursing-educators/post/i-human-patients
HealthySimulation.com. (n.d.). i-Human Patients. https://www.healthysimulation.com/vendors/i-human-patients/
OnlineNursingPapers. (n.d.). iHuman patients guide. https://onlinenursingpapers.com/ihuman-patients-guide/
OnlineNursingPapers. (n.d.). iHuman documentation guide. https://onlinenursingpapers.com/ihuman-documentation-guide/
AceMyNursingPapers. (2025). How to pass the iHuman virtual simulation: Success tips 2025. https://acemynursingpapers.com/how-to-pass-the-ihuman-virtual-simulation/
NurseMyGrade. (n.d.). iHuman cheat sheet for nursing students. https://nursemygrade.com/ihuman-tips-help-and-tricks