Evaluating Physician-to-Patient Communication

Abstract

Research has established that human patient simulators (i.e., standardized patients) are a highly beneficial component of modern medical education and training, but few studies have explored the cognitive factors that affect the ability of standardized patients to make clinical skills assessments during simulated patient encounters. This study examines the impact of multiple scenario evaluation points (as opposed to a single, postscenario evaluation) and serial position effects on the accuracy of verbal and nonverbal clinical performance evaluations. Results suggest that concurrent recall may result in better verbal and nonverbal recall accuracy for clinical skills assessment than the traditional retrospective framework. For formative clinical skills assessment, in which specificity for the purpose of professional development is critical, concurrent evaluation could be considered as a potential alternative to retrospective approaches.