Tey Corinne, Chiavaroli Neville, Ryan Anna
Department of Medical Education, The University of Melbourne, Level 7 North, Medical Building, Grattan Street, Parkville, Victoria, 3010, Australia.
BMC Med Educ. 2020 Aug 7;20(1):257. doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02182-6.
The long case is a traditional method of clinical assessment which has fallen out of favour in certain contexts, primarily due to psychometric concerns. This study explored the long case's educational impact, an aspect which has been neglected in previous research.
Three focus groups of medical students (20 in total) and semi-structured interviews of six examiners were conducted. Cook and Lineberry's framework for exploring educational impact was used as a sensitising tool during thematic analysis of the data.
Participants described the long case and its scoring as having influence on student learning. Engaging in the activity of a long case had an essential role in fostering students' clinical skills and served as a powerful driving force for them to spend time with patients. The long case was seen as authentic, and the only assessment to promote a holistic approach to patients. Students had concerns about inter-case variability, but there was general consensus that the long case was valuable, with allocation of marks being an important motivator for students.
This study offers a unique focus on the traditional long case's educational consequences; the extent of its positive impact would support its place within a program of assessment.
长病例是一种传统的临床评估方法，在某些情况下已不受青睐，主要是出于心理测量方面的考虑。本研究探讨了长病例的教育影响，这是一个在以往研究中被忽视的方面。
对三组医学生（共20名）进行了焦点小组讨论，并对六名考官进行了半结构化访谈。在对数据进行主题分析时，使用库克和林贝里探索教育影响的框架作为敏感工具。
参与者描述长病例及其评分对学生学习有影响。参与长病例活动在培养学生临床技能方面起着至关重要的作用，并成为他们花时间与患者相处的强大驱动力。长病例被视为真实的，是促进对患者采取整体方法的唯一评估方式。学生们对病例间的变异性存在担忧，但普遍认为长病例是有价值的，分数分配是学生的重要动力。
本研究特别关注了传统长病例的教育后果；其积极影响的程度将支持其在评估方案中的地位。
