Observational Study of Conformity in Yet Another Medical Learning Environment: Conformity to Preceptors During...

Altering one's behavior to comply with inaccurate suggestions made by others (i.e., conformity) has been studied since the 1950s. Although several studies have documented its occurrence in medical education, it has yet to be examined in a high-fidelity simulation environment. It was hypothesized that a large majority of learners would conform to a preceptor.

A total of 42 student dyads (a medical student paired with a resident) participated in one of four clinical scenarios to manage the diagnosis and treatment of a simulated patient encounter. Once the learners became familiar with the patient's case, a preceptor entered the simulation, offered an equivocal suggestion about diagnosis or management, and then left. Two raters observed the video recordings of how the learners managed the case after this suggestion was made. The nature of these interactions was also documented.

Sixteen (38.10%) of the 42 medical student dyads conformed to the equivocal information presented by the preceptors. Observations of these interactions showed that all of the medical students conformed to the residents, but not all of the medical students conformed to the preceptors.

Many learners conform to preceptors by acting on their equivocal suggestion when managing a patient case during high-fidelity simulation.