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A Comparison of High Fidelity Patient Simulations and Computerized Clinical Cases on Undergraduate Student Learning of Physiology
Author(s) -
Harris David M,
Li Wei
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.31.1_supplement.576.27
Subject(s) - asthma , medicine , relevance (law) , significant difference , fidelity , medical education , computer science , telecommunications , political science , law
High fidelity patient simulations (HFPS) have been shown to improve learning of science knowledge and skills in nursing and medical students. A few studies have shown improved learning in undergraduate students. Because HFPS are expensive and resource intensive, it is important to determine whether the increase in learning is worth the high cost. The purpose of this study was to determine if computerized clinical cases (CC), a low cost alternative, could produce similar learning as HFPS. Methods Thirty‐two undergraduate biomedical students were randomly assigned to two groups. Group A participated in a HFPS about asthma and then a CC on hemorrhage. Group B participated in a CC on asthma and then a HFPS on hemorrhage. The HFPS and CC were identical cases. A pretest with 10 questions was given before their activities and a post‐test was given after their activities. Students also took a survey regarding their confidence levels after the simulation activities. The 10 questions consisted of 4 related to asthma, 4 to hemorrhage and 2 unrelated to the cases as controls. Results Both groups achieved higher scores on the posttest for the asthma questions with no difference between groups. There was no significant increase in scores on either the hemorrhage or control questions. There was a significant increase in 2 of the 7 statements about confidence. One involved confidence in understanding pathophysiology of a patient and the other was the relevance of physiology to medicine. Discussion These data suggest that CC and HFPS are similar in short term learning for some material. Future studies are needed to determine if there are other benefits of HFPS in undergraduate students and whether these justify the cost of this pedagogy in undergraduate students.