The Patient Findings Questionnaire: one solution to an important standardized patient examination problem.

Abstract

To describe the Patient Findings Questionnaire (PFQ) and compare its scores and pass/fail decisions with those obtained from standardized patient (SP) examination checklists. Checklists and PFQs were used to assess data acquisition by 790 second-year medical students. PFQs were composed of multiple-choice items designed to determine whether examines had acquired key historical patient information. At the item level, the two measurement methods yielded the same decisions about data acquisition on 88% of observed occasions. Most discrepancies (74%) involved SPs rating examinees as having elicited information when the examinee was unable to answer the associated PFQ item. At the test level, the two instruments yielded the same pass/fail decision on a large majority of occasions. The PFQ and checklist yielded similar data acquisition scores and decisions at the item and test levels. Replacement of the checklist with the PFQ should result in examinees' behaving in a way more consistent with recommended interviewing practices.