How to use ClinCog
Everything you need to know to get through a week's case smoothly — five minutes, once, and you're set for the rest of the term.
1 Set your name, once
The first time you open ClinCog, it asks for your first name. This personalizes the site and lets it recognize you the next time you visit — nothing more.
2 Conceptualize: talk to the patient
Each case opens with a short written summary, followed by a chat where you interview the patient directly — ask about onset, duration, severity, anything relevant to building your own clinical picture. You have up to 10 exchanges per case. The patient can only discuss what's documented in their file; if you ask about something outside it, they'll say so rather than invent an answer.
3 Evaluate: apply the three instruments
Once you're done exploring, move to that case's evaluation page — a categorical interview (SCID-5), a dimensional questionnaire, and a cognitive task. For the cognitive task, you're the one being measured, not the patient; use your own result as a point of comparison, not a diagnosis.
4 Your progress is saved automatically
Every conversation is saved as you go. Close the tab, come back tomorrow, and you'll find each case exactly where you left it. Want a clean slate on a case? Open it and click "Restart this interview."
5 If something looks broken
- Refresh the page before assuming something's wrong — most display hiccups clear on reload.
- If a chat reply fails, it won't count against your 10 exchanges — just try again.
- Still stuck? Flag it to your seminar instructor with the case name and what you were doing.