Department of Surgery, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM.
Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Palliative Care, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Albuquerque, NM.
J Am Coll Surg. 2021 Jul;233(1):64-72.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jamcollsurg.2021.04.026. Epub 2021 May 17.
The disruption by the COVID-19 pandemic on undergraduate medical education allowed for assessment of virtual curricular innovations. One of the difficulties encountered in the virtual curriculum is the teaching of clinical competencies that would traditionally require students to undergo in-person simulations and patient encounters. We implemented a novel informed consent activity module, with standardized patients, to improve self-efficacy in communication within our core surgery clerkship.
All medical students who participated in the virtual surgery clerkship were recruited to participate in a retrospective survey study regarding the novel informed consent module. These questions evaluated their perceived competence in 4 domains relating to informed consent: identifying the key elements, describing common challenges, applying the New Mexico Clinical Communication Scale (NMCCS), and documenting.
Thirty-four of 90 students participated in the study (38% of the cohort). Respondents to the survey reported that their self-efficacy in communication skills related to informed consent improved as a result of their participation in the activity in each of the 4 domains surveyed (p < 0.01), with the majority of students identifying as satisfactory or above in each domain post-module. Students generally viewed the virtual informed consent activity positively, but noted that it was not the same as an in-person clinical experience.
A virtual module of communication skills training, using standardized patients and faculty, improved students' belief in their self-efficacy in obtaining informed consent. This communication module can be useful in a virtual or mixed curricular structure for both current and future medical students.
COVID-19 大流行扰乱了本科医学教育，使人们能够评估虚拟课程创新。虚拟课程中遇到的困难之一是教授临床能力，这通常需要学生进行亲身模拟和患者接触。我们实施了一项新的知情同意活动模块，使用标准化患者，以提高我们核心外科实习课程中沟通的自我效能感。
所有参加虚拟外科学实习的医学生都被招募参加一项关于新知情同意模块的回顾性调查研究。这些问题评估了他们在与知情同意相关的 4 个领域中的感知能力：确定关键要素、描述常见挑战、应用新墨西哥临床沟通量表 (NMCCS) 和记录。
90 名学生中有 34 名(占该队列的 38%)参加了这项研究。调查的受访者报告说，他们在沟通技能方面的自我效能感，由于他们参与了每个调查领域的活动而有所提高(所有 p<0.01)，大多数学生在每个领域的模块后都认为自己是满意或以上。学生普遍对虚拟知情同意活动持积极态度，但指出它与面对面的临床体验不同。
使用标准化患者和教师的沟通技能培训虚拟模块提高了学生对自己获得知情同意的自我效能感的信心。这个沟通模块在虚拟或混合课程结构中对当前和未来的医学生都很有用。
