Department of Restorative Dentistry & Prosthodontics, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Dentistry, Houston, Texas, USA.
Educational Technology, Office of Technology Services and Informatics, UTHealth School of Dentistry, Houston, Texas, USA.
J Dent Educ. 2020 Aug;84(8):908-916. doi: 10.1002/jdd.12176. Epub 2020 May 11.
The evaluation of the effectiveness of simulation training in dentistry has previously been focused primarily on psychomotor hand skills. This study explored the impact of simulated patient (SP) encounters in simulation on students' self-assessment of competency in their clinical and communication abilities with geriatric patients.
Students from 2 cohorts were recruited for this study. Cohort 1 (n = 30) participated in the standard curriculum with no simulation training and served as the control group. Cohort 2 (n = 34) participated in a SP experience, simulating the initial stages of a care visit for 2 nursing home patients. Students' perceptions of competency to perform these clinical and communication tasks were assessed. A group debriefing session was held 5 weeks post-simulation where Cohort 2 completed a student feedback form.
A statistically significant change (P < 0.00001) was noted for both cohorts in their self-reported competence to perform clinical tasks following exposure to an independent clinical experience. In addition to this gain, individuals in Cohort 2 demonstrated improvements following simulation and expressed different responses of impact to questions related to treatment, pharmacology, and managing a complex medical history.
This study suggests that simulation of patient interactions using SPs can strengthen students' self-assessment of competency in their abilities, leading to more genuine interactions with actual patients. These findings will help inform the design of future SP encounters as a component of an evolving humanistic curriculum.
以往对牙科模拟培训效果的评估主要集中在手技能的心理运动能力上。本研究探讨了模拟患者（SP）在模拟训练中与老年患者进行临床和沟通能力的模拟接触对学生自我评估能力的影响。
本研究招募了来自两个队列的学生。队列 1（n=30）参加了标准课程，没有模拟培训，作为对照组。队列 2（n=34）参加了 SP 体验，模拟了 2 名养老院患者护理访问的初始阶段。评估了学生对执行这些临床和沟通任务的能力的自我评估。模拟后 5 周进行了小组讨论，队列 2 完成了学生反馈表。
两个队列在接触独立临床经验后，自我报告执行临床任务的能力都有显著变化（P<0.00001）。除了这种提高，队列 2 中的个体在模拟后表现出了改善，并对与治疗、药理学和管理复杂病史相关的问题表现出不同的影响反应。
本研究表明，使用 SP 模拟患者互动可以增强学生对自身能力的自我评估能力，从而与实际患者进行更真实的互动。这些发现将有助于为未来的 SP 体验设计提供信息，作为不断发展的人文课程的一部分。
