The Efficacy of Standardized Patient Feedback in Clinical Teaching: A Mixed Methods Analysis

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of oral feedback from standardized patients on medical students' overall perceptions of an educational exercise. We chose a mixed-methods approach to better understand the following research questions: Does satisfaction with the standardized patient exercise differ among those students who receive oral feedback and those who do not? What is the quality of oral feedback provided by standardized patients?

In order to address the first question, a basic randomized design comparing treatment (or those receiving SP feedback) to control (those not receiving SP feedback) was conducted. To address the second question, students in the treatment group were surveyed about their impressions of the quality of the feedback provided to them by their SP. One hundred and thirty six first year medical students were divided into treatment and control groups and interviewed one standardized patient during a single 20-minute encounter. Standardized patients were trained to simulate one of two outpatient cases and provide feedback using standard training materials. Both treatment and control groups completed a rating scale and questionnaire regarding their satisfaction with the encounter and students in the treatment group responded to additional questions regarding the quality of the SP feedback.

A one-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) revealed significant differences among control and treatment groups on the seven combined dependent variables, Wilks' Students reported that the quality of SP feedback was very strong and additional qualitative analysis revealed further evidence to support the efficacy of providing oral SP feedback in a formative pre-clinical educational activity.