Medical schools around the country have turned increasingly to the use of standardized-patient-based clinical practice examinat

Keynote Presentation

From Slice to Life:  Combining Computer Technology and the Standardized Patient
to Assess Clinical Practice Behavior

Medical schools around the country have turned increasingly to the use of standardized-patient-based clinical practice examinations to assess the clinical performance skills of students. Unfortunately, many of the methods and strategies adopted by medical schools do not always provide a complete picture of a student’s practice behavior. Moreover, the examination itself may not parallel what the physician actually does in clinical practice.

This year the DxR Development Group in collaboration with Southern Illinois University School of Medicine produced and implemented the Clinical Competency Examination (CCX), which combined the realism of standardized patients with an easy to use computer software program that collected and scored the student-generated responses.

Students obtained the history from and conducted the physical examination on standardized patients. They then used the CCX software to enter their key findings, rank differential diagnosis, order and interpret laboratory tests and procedures, state the final diagnosis, and recommend a treatment plan. Student-generated responses were graded first by the computer software, then reviewed by a faculty member, who could override computer-scoring errors, as well as assess and score all "free" text data that were entered by the student.

SIU faculty members and students who used CCX commented that its design paralleled the clinical thought process of the clinician and therefore, was an effective method for collecting the information needed to assess clinical performance skills. Faculty members stated that the CCX software data record presentation and scoring utilities were easy to use and provided data that were useful to the understanding of a student’s strengths and weaknesses.


   

      
         
Presentation objectives:
      

   

      
         
    
             
            
            
  1. Demonstrate a new clinical assessment tool for use
            with performance assessment
            
            
  2. Review student performance data generated by the new
            method
            
            
  3. Explore relationship of assessment tools to
            assessment and/or curriculum goals.   
            
            
  4. Discuss the impact of the assessment tool on student
            and faculty acceptance and support.
         

         
         
 
      

   

      
         
Questions to be addressed:
      

   

      
         
    
            
  1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of this method
            when used to assess student performance?
            
            
  2. What sorts of data are collected by this assessment
            method and how can data be used to inform or improve
            student performance?
            
            
  3. What is the cost in faculty and staff time for case
            development, administration, and data review?            
            
            
  4. What has the student response been to this method
            when used in clinical practice assessment?
         

      



J. Hurley Myers, Ph.D.
Southern Illinois Univ.
School of Medicine
Dept. Physiology
Lindegren Hall, first floor
Carbondale, IL 62901-6503
(618) 453-1521, 618 453-1140
hmyers@som.siu.edu
(618) 453-5861 fax