- © 2019 Marshfield Clinic
Effectiveness of Standardized Patient in Abdominal Physical Examination Education: A Randomized, Controlled Trial
- Azita Jaberi, PhD* and
- Marzieh Momennasab, PhD†
- *Community Based Psychiatric Care Research Center, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
- †Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran
- Corresponding Author: Dr. Marzieh Momennasab, Associate Professor of Nursing, Department of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Zand Street, Namazee Sq., Shiraz, Iran, Postal code: 71936-13119. Tel: +98(711)6474255-8, Fax: +987136474252, Email: momennasab{at}sums.ac.ir
Abstract
Introduction Simulation and virtual technologies currently are used to enhance basic and advanced nursing skills. Information on the use of simulation methods in the Iranian nursing education system, particularly regarding standardized patients (SP), is scarce. Hence, the present study aimed to evaluate the effect of using SP on the performance of Iranian nursing students in the physical examination of the abdomen. In addition, the SP method was compared with the purely lecture-based education method.
Methods The present study was of a pre-test/post-test design carried out at the School of Nursing and Midwifery, Kazerun Islamic Azad University (Kazerun, Iran) during 2014. Third-year nursing students were recruited and assigned to either a control or an intervention group. The study was conducted in three phases: pre-test knowledge evaluation, training sessions, and post-test/recall test evaluation of objective structured clinical examination (OSCE). Data were analyzed using the SPSS software (version 16.0). A total of 87 students were included in our analysis.
Results All participants were female with a mean age of 21.99±1.73 years. The mean pre-test score of the control and intervention groups were 4.98±2.17 and 5.35±1.77, respectively. No significant difference was observed between the groups regarding the OSCE overall scores (P>0.05). However, there was a significant difference between the mean pre-test and post-test scores in each group (P<0.05). Compared to the control group, the difference in the mean pre-test and post-test scores was higher in the intervention group (4.98±2.17 and 14.43±3.93 in control group vs. 5.35±1.77 and 15.39±3.2 in intervention group, respectively). Furthermore, there was no statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of the post-test and recall test scores.
Conclusion Our study demonstrates the SP method is an effective tool for learning to perform the physical examination of the abdomen as compared to the purely lecture-based educational method. The present pilot study could be extended to cover training on the physical examination of other human organs.
Footnotes
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Disclosures: The authors disclose receipt of the financial support from the Vice-Chancellor for Research Affairs of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Iran, for the research of this article. The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
