Abstract
BackgroundThe use of simulation games (SG) to assess the clinical competence of medical students has been poorly studied.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to assess whether an SG better reflects the clinical competence of medical students than a multiple choice questionnaire (MCQ).MethodsFifth-year medical students in Paris (France) were included and individually evaluated on a case of pediatric asthma exacerbation using three successive modalities: high-fidelity simulation (HFS), considered the gold standard for the evaluation of clinical competence, the SG Effic’Asthme, and an MCQ designed for the study. The primary endpoint was the median kappa coefficient evaluating the correlation of the actions performed by the students between the SG and HFS modalities and the MCQ and HFS modalities. Student satisfaction was also evaluated.ResultsForty-two students were included. The actions performed by the students were more reproducible between the SG and HFS modalities than between the MCQ and HFS modalities (P=.04). Students reported significantly higher satisfaction with the SG (P<.01) than with the MCQ modality.ConclusionsThe SG Effic’Asthme better reflected the actions performed by medical students during an HFS session than an MCQ on the same asthma exacerbation case. Because SGs allow the assessment of more dimensions of clinical competence than MCQs, they are particularly appropriate for the assessment of medical students on situations involving symptom recognition, prioritization of decisions, and technical skills.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT03884114; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03884114
Highlights
An essential mission of medical schools is to regularly assess the clinical competence of their medical students
Because simulation games (SG) allow the assessment of more dimensions of clinical competence than multiple choice questionnaires (MCQ), they are appropriate for the assessment of medical students on situations involving symptom recognition, prioritization of decisions, and technical skills
As it was impossible to assess the students on their ability to manage an asthma exacerbation with a real patient, we considered High-fidelity simulation (HFS) the gold standard assessment method that would best reflect students’ clinical competence
Summary
An essential mission of medical schools is to regularly assess the clinical competence of their medical students These assessments are made difficult by the multidimensional aspects of medical competence, and different methods have been developed [1]. High-fidelity simulation (HFS) and objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) are currently considered the best modalities to assess the clinical competence of medical students because they represent reliable, valid, and acceptable http://www.jmir.org/2020/12/e23254/ XSLFO RenderX. 1 (page number not for citation purposes) assessment methods without any risk for patients [2,3,4] They allow several dimensions of medical competence to be assessed at the same time, such as knowledge, clinical reasoning, technical skills, and teamwork. The use of simulation games (SG) to assess the clinical competence of medical students has been poorly studied
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