Journal article
Comparison of Medical Student and Physician Assistant Student Performance on Standardized-Patient Assessments
The journal of physician assistant education, Vol.18(4), pp.16-19
2007
DOI: 10.1097/01367895-200718040-00004
Abstract
Purpose:
Standardized patients (SPs) are widely used in medical education for teaching and evaluating clinical skills. SP exams allow assessment of clinical skills that are difficult to measure through more traditional testing methods. However, this form of evaluation presents distinct challenges, including establishing credible passing scores; high costs to the program; and difficulty of demonstrating accuracy, reliability, and validity. There is little research available on physician assistant (PA) student performance on SP exams. This study compares performance of third-year medical students (M3s) and PA students in a well-established SP testing program over a 3-year period at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine.
Methods:
Both groups of students had completed an average of 36 weeks of clinical rotations prior to the SP exams. In 2004, 39 M3s and 25 PA students participated in three of the same SP cases; in 2005, 32 M3s and 23 PA students participated in four of the same cases, and in 2006, 30 M3s and 23 PA students participated in two of the same cases. Specific cases varied from year to year. Scoring was accomplished through checklists completed by SPs. The overall mean scores of PA and M3 students were compared for each year, using SAS to run t-tests.
Results:
No significant differences were found between the two types of students.
Conclusions:
This result would be expected if SP testing truly functions as a measure of clinical experience, since these groups of students had comparable time in clinical rotation settings, though greatly differing amounts of didactic training.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Comparison of Medical Student and Physician Assistant Student Performance on Standardized-Patient Assessments
- Creators
- David P. AspreyTheresa E. HegmannGeorge R. Bergus
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- The journal of physician assistant education, Vol.18(4), pp.16-19
- DOI
- 10.1097/01367895-200718040-00004
- ISSN
- 1941-9430
- eISSN
- 1941-9449
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2007
- Academic Unit
- Medicine Administration; Stead Family Department of Pediatrics; Physician Assistant Studies; Psychiatry; Family Medicine
- Record Identifier
- 9984295036502771
Metrics
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