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Measuring clinical competence of medical students.

Evidence of clinical competence for medical students entering the clinical clerkships at the University of Kansas College of Health Sciences is established by passing two different examinations: a 100 item multiple choice examination and a videotaped history and physical examination by each student of a simulated patient, being rated by that patient and two examiners. In 1976 the class of 196 medical students took an average 1.85 written examinations per student. With 70% or better constituting a passing score, 30.6% passed on the first attempt, 55.6% the second, 11.2% the third and 2.5% the fourth. Each student passed the televised practical examination and had the opportunity to review his or her videotape with a critiqued data base and the examiners' and simulated patient's evaluations in hand. Correlation coefficients for all 196 students between scores of written examinations, medicine tutors, examiners and professional patients revealed weak but significant correlations between the assessments of examiners and medical tutors and assessments of examiners and written examination scores, but not between other evaluations. This scheme of proof of competence appears to be objective and direct, and serves the convenience of both students and teaching staff.

Clinical Competence

The effects of storage and shaking on the settling properties of phenytoin suspension.

Phenytoin suspension (PHY-S) is reported to settle, resulting in uneven drug distribution and variable patient dosing. We designed this study to determine the rate of settling and the amount of agitation needed to resuspend the preparation. To determine the rate of settling, we thoroughly shook three bottles of PHY-S and then left them undisturbed. We took samples from the top and bottom of each bottle with a microsyringe at 15 minutes, 1, 6, 12, 24, 48, and 72 hours, and 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 weeks. We simulated patient administration with daily doses that were measured under good, fair, and poor shaking techniques. We analyzed samples after every tenth dose. After complete resuspension the active ingredient in PHY-S settles at a very slow rate. We found no differences in concentration between the top and bottom until the fifth week in the bottles thoroughly shaken and left undisturbed. Minimal agitation is required to resuspend PHY-S. The well-shaken and poorly shaken bottles in the patient simulation phase exhibited no differences in concentrations whereas the unshaken bottle had differences throughout the study period. Problems thought to be associated with PHY-S may be related to compliance and inaccurate measuring devices.

Drug Storage

To what extent are medical interviewing skills teachable?

Growth patterns of medical interviewing skills during a 6-year undergraduate curriculum are assessed by studying 563 medical students taken from five year-groups, interviewing simulated patients. In a cross-sectional, quasi-experimental design their skills are rated by means of the Maastricht History-taking and Advice Checklist (MAAS), an observation instrument which measures five categories of interviewing skills pertaining to initial medical consultations. The findings suggest that the skills for 'history-taking', 'presenting solutions' and 'structuring of the interview' are effectively learned. These learning effects result from a continuous small group teaching program with expert and peer review of videotaped encounters with simulated patients. The teaching effects of this program seem less for the skills pertinent to the phase of 'exploring the reasons for encounter' and to the 'basic interviewing skills', because the students' growing medical knowledge and the increasing ability to solve medical problems exert a counteracting influence on the acquisition of these easily deteriorating skills. The results might be helpful to curriculum planners in order to make their programs for medical interviewing skills more effective.

Cross-Sectional Studies

Diagnosis of a computer-simulated podiatric patient.

The authors discuss the use of computers in medicine. A patient presenting with a condition requiring surgery is represented by a data file in a computer program. The user obtains data from the file by selecting items from a menu. Data are presented on the screen in pop-up windows. By examining the data and making judgments, the user may determine the pathology and make first a provisional and then a definitive diagnosis.

Computer Simulation

Educational approaches to prescribing practices and substance abuse.

The history of medical education in treating and prescribing for additive disorders is primarily one of omission. This began to change in the 1970s, leading to positive developments in medical education; however, much still remains to be done. Training in writing prescriptions should cover four areas: (1) prescribing to prevent addiction; (2) prescribing for alcohol or other drug dependent patients; (3) prescribing for withdrawal from alcohol or other drugs; and (4) prescribing for patients in recovery from alcohol or other drug addiction. Other areas of importance to medical education are inappropriate prescribing practices, self-prescribing, and prescribing for dual diagnosis patients. Physicians need to know how to avoid becoming duped, dated, impaired or "script doctors." The educational techniques used in attaining these goals emphasize adult, or andragogical, education, sequencing curricula over the years of medical school and residency training, utilizing a variety of instructional techniques, and evaluating the results after each educational unit. The use of clinical vignettes, patient management problems and simulated patients is recommended.

Drug Prescriptions

Response optimization of drug dosage: antiarrhythmic studies with tocainide.

The benefits of using antiarrhythmic response to optimize dosage regimens of antiarrhythmic drugs in individual patients have been examined. Graded antiarrhythmic response and simultaneously measured plasma drug concentrations have been obtained in 15 patients receiving multiple oral doses of a new antiarrhythmic, tocainide. Plasma drug concentration-antiarrhythmic response data from each of 11 subjects responding to the drug have been fitted by a generalized concentration effect function which is valid over the entire range of response. With the use of experimentally determined pharmacokinetic parameters to define the dose-plasma concentration relationship and plasma drug concentration-response parameters estimated for individual patients, simulations were carried out to show the effect of various dosage regimens on antiarrhythmic response in individual patients. Such simulations provide a means of assessing antiarrhythmic effect in the range of clinical interest (80% to 100% of maximum effect), where the antiarrhythmic effect is a nonlinear function of dose, plasma drug concentration, or their logarithms. The simulations also demonstrate that for identical daily doses and dosing intervals patients show marked variability in antiarrhythmic response.

Administration, Oral

Therapists' physiological activation and patient difficulty.

The differential effects of an easy and difficult-to-interview patient on therapist self-reported behavioral arousal and physiological activation were observed. Eighteen experienced white male psychiatrists each interviewed two patient simulators believing they were real patients. Each actress was programed to act the part of a difficult-to-interview patient and an easy-to-interview patient. Each randomly played either part as assigned and the order of patient and role was counterbalanced. Differences in patient roles were validated by the participating therapists and independent raters. Fifteen-minute rest periods with soft music preceded each therapy session such that a complete experimental session consisted of rest 1, therapy 1, rest 2, and therapy 2. Self-reported arousal was assessed during each of the four periods by Thayer's factors from the Nowlis Mood Adjective List. Physiological activation was measured by electromyogram, heart rate, blood pressure (systolic and diastolic), and skin conductance. Therapist self-reported behavioral arousal and measured physiological activation during therapy were significantly greater than during rest. The difficulty of the patient did not appear to affect either behavioral or physiological activation level of the therapists. Several explanations for this are explored.

Arousal

Inter-machine variability in the stability of continuous positive airway pressure.

Two studies were performed to investigate the differences in pressure stability performance of the continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines used by our patients. The variations of mask pressures during each respiratory cycle were measured during overnight studies of two groups of patients with obstructive sleep apnoea, who were using either a Sleep-Easy III CPAP machine or a Si-Plan CPAP unit. The patients were well-matched for age, weight and neck circumference. The group using the Si-Plan unit had more constant mask pressures and were using lower CPAP pressures (mean 10.6 cmH2O) than those using the Sleep-Easy III machine (mean 13.8 cmH2O) (p less than 0.02). The pressure stability performance of five CPAP machines used by our patients was also compared using standardized simulated patient breaths produced by a negative pressure cuirass pump. There were large differences between the machines in ability to maintain a constant pressure. Using a tidal volume of 0.5 l and peak flow rates of between 20-40 l.min-1 the pressure variation ranged from 0-67% of the minimum inspiratory pressure. The maintenance of a constant pressure during inspiration and expiration lowers the mean pressure required to eliminate obstructive sleep apnoeas and reduces the likelihood of pressure related side-effects.

Adult

Use of a computer simulation to evaluate a seminar on child abuse.

A computerized patient simulation was used to evaluate the effectiveness of a seminar on child abuse in changing students' behavior in assessing the problem and developing a treatment plan. The CAMPS system (DACIS Software) was selected because it allows students freedom to follow any pathway in selecting over 500 items of history, physical examination, laboratory, and treatments. In interacting with this simulation, students demonstrated how they integrate their knowledge into a clinical setting. The three-hour seminar covered the topics of physical and sexual abuse, patient neglect, and utilization of community resources for treatment. The control (n = 43) and experimental (n = 38) groups, enrolled in an introductory course in pediatrics, were given references to read about child abuse as part of the core curriculum, but they may or may not have had exposure to patients in their clinical work. Only the experimental group attended the seminar. As part of the course evaluation program, both groups interacted with eight computer simulations, two of which involved cases of child abuse. In the classic case of child abuse, the control and experimental groups had similar results. In the more difficult diagnostic problem (shaken baby), the groups differed significantly in total score, cost of the evaluation, and percentage of correct diagnosis.

Child

A pilot study of the relationship between experts' ratings and scores generated by the NBME's Computer-Based Examination System.

This pilot study evaluates the consistency of experts' ratings of students' performances on the National Board of Medical Examiners' Computer Based Examination (CBX) cases and the relationship of those ratings to the CBX's scoring algorithm. The authors were investigating whether an automated scoring algorithm can adequately assess an examinee's management of a computer-simulated patient. In 1989-90, at the Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, eight students, completing a surgery clerkship, each managed eight CBX cases and took a computer-administered, multiple-choice examination. Six clerkship coordinators rated the students' performances in terms of overall management, efficiency, and dangerous actions. The ratings correlated highly with scores produced by the CBX's scoring system.

Algorithms

Design for a constant peak current defibrillator.

A damped sine wave defibrillator that is capable of delivering a constant peak discharge current over a wide range of patient thoracic impedance is shown to be theoretically possible. This is realized in practice by the technique of storing an amount of energy above that required for delivery, and dumping the excess charge when the discharge current has reached a predetermined level, the dumping being triggered by a current sensor. A larger than normal inductance assists in swamping the effect of varying impedance and produces a smooth waveform. The preselected peak current can be delivered with a variation of about +/- 6% to 95% of a normal patient population. The energy expended in a simulated patient circuit is somewhat lower than for conventional defibrillators.

Computer Simulation

Computer-assisted instruction: design and content in neuroscience nursing.

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) includes games, tutorials, simulations, and drills. Computer simulation exercises can be used to simulate patient care and promote diagnostic reasoning skills in nursing. Computer simulation exercises (CSEs) based on case studies of patients with head injury, spinal cord injury, epilepsy, febrile seizures and meningitis have been developed and implemented at the University of Washington School of Nursing, Department of Physiological Nursing, in conjunction with the Health Sciences Center for Educational Resources. These simulations provide a realistic, constantly changing scenerio in which the nurse-learner collects data, analyzes it, and makes decisions about the patient's nursing care. The patient's condition may change dramatically as a result of the decisions made by the nurse-learner.

Computer Simulation