Background: The standardized patient test (SPY) is a tool used to measure the clinical ability of students by the simulation of clinical situations. In this paper, we reported our experience using standardized patients in surgical tests. Material and Methods: In 2005, we held two standardized patient tests in our department, and, in total, 104 interns took part in this examination. Results: The interns average grades for the SPY was (84.7+6.46), which was not significantly different from the scores they got from the purely written examination (84.2+13.1). However, there was no significant correlation between the scores from the SPY and the written test. Furthermore, the variance of the scores from the SPY was significantly lower than that from the written test. When asked to comment, most of the examinees thought: firstly, that the standardized patients worked well; secondly, that the content of the SPY included what they had encountered in daily clinical practice; thirdly, that the difficulty of the SPY was fair to the students and finally that the simulation of the clinical environment was appropriate. However, approximately 40% of the examinees complained of the limited time available to complete the SPY. Conclusions: SPY is feasible in Taiwan. If it is well designed, an SPY is able to reflect the medical student's clinical ability and guide their study attitudes.
Background: The standardized patient test (SPY) is a tool used to measure the clinical ability of students by the simulation of clinical situations. In this paper, we reported our experience using standardized patients in surgical tests. Material and Methods: In 2005, we held two standardized patient tests in our department, and, in total, 104 interns took part in this examination. Results: The interns average grades for the SPY was (84.7+6.46), which was not significantly different from the scores they got from the purely written examination (84.2+13.1). However, there was no significant correlation between the scores from the SPY and the written test. Furthermore, the variance of the scores from the SPY was significantly lower than that from the written test. When asked to comment, most of the examinees thought: firstly, that the standardized patients worked well; secondly, that the content of the SPY included what they had encountered in daily clinical practice; thirdly, that the difficulty of the SPY was fair to the students and finally that the simulation of the clinical environment was appropriate. However, approximately 40% of the examinees complained of the limited time available to complete the SPY. Conclusions: SPY is feasible in Taiwan. If it is well designed, an SPY is able to reflect the medical student's clinical ability and guide their study attitudes.