Effects of High‐fidelity Patient Simulation Training on Medical Student Self‐efficacy and Competence

High‐fidelity patient simulation (HFPS) is an instructional adjunct that incorporates realistic physical environments with interactive computerized patient manikins for training and assessment. This research compared the self‐efficacy ratings and competence, as measured by Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) scores, between medical students exposed to HFPS (intervention) and medical students with little to no exposure with this pedagogy (control). The groups that were examined included: first‐year (MS1), second‐year (MS2), and third‐year (MS3) medical students. A questionnaire was developed and validated to assess clinical self‐efficacy of patient care. Compared to the control groups, average OSCE composite scores were higher for the MS1 (93.49, SD = 4.24) and MS3 intervention groups (75.27, SD = 5.39), but differences were not significant (MS1: t (27) = 1.090, p = .285; MS3: t (7) = 2.263, p = .058). Pearson's correlations between average self‐efficacy ratings and OSCE scores exhibited negative correlations for all control groups, ranging from weak to strong. Weak to moderate positive correlations were observed for the MS1 and MS3 intervention groups. Both MS2 intervention and control groups had moderate negative correlations, suggesting the MS2 intervention group and all control groups inaccurately assessed their actual ability to successfully provide patient care. Although statistical significance was not achieved, the general trends observed are consistent with the literature and warrant further investigation into the dynamic interactions of HFPS exposure on medical student self‐efficacy and external measures of competence. This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal .