What does this research mean for the field?

Standardized patient training improves emergency department residents' management of acute chest pain and reduces patient disposition time compared to untrained colleagues. Novelty: ClaimNovelty.CONFIRMATORY. Consensus alignment: ConsensusAlignment.SUPPORTS_CONSENSUS.

What question did this study set out to answer?

To evaluate the effectiveness of standardized patient training on emergency department residents' skills in managing acute chest pain.

January 10, 2026BMC Medical Education0 citationsOpen Access

Effectiveness evaluation of standardized patient training system on emergency department residents in disposing patients with acute chest pain

FLFan LüChina University of Mining and Technology THTing HuangSun Yat-sen University RCRuichang ChenHarvard University

Key Result

After standardized patient training, emergency department residents improved their management of acute chest pain and spent less time on patient disposition compared to untrained colleagues.

Key Points

To evaluate the effectiveness of standardized patient training on emergency department residents' skills in managing acute chest pain.
Assessment of resident physicians' abilities before and after standardized patient training.
Comparison of management time for residents with and without standardized patient training.
Focus on physical examination and treatment techniques post-training.
Residents demonstrated improved skills in managing acute chest pain after training.
Less time was spent on patient management by trained residents compared to untrained peers.
Standardized patient training is recommended for emergency department settings.

Structured PICO

Does standardized patient (SP) training improve clinical competency and reduce time-to-treatment for emergency department residents managing acute chest pain compared to traditional lecture-based learning?

Population

216 resident physicians rotating in the emergency department of the First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University in China (January 2022 to December 2023). Inclusion: currently undergoing standardized training in the ED, possessing fundamental knowledge of chest pain but limited experience in managing complex cases. Exclusion: completed advanced cardiology training or had extensive experience in chest pain management.

Intervention

Standardized patient (SP) simulation-based training utilizing standardized patients and SimMan 3G advanced simulation mannequins, based on AHA/ACC guidelines for the management of chest pain.

Comparator

Traditional lecture-based learning, including slide presentations on common chest pain diseases, emergency management, diagnosis, treatment, and fast track time nodes.

Outcome

Diagnostic and therapeutic efficiency, measured by performance scores on a grading checklist (history, physical exam, differential diagnosis, labs/tests, diagnosis, management) and time nodes for attending chest pain patients.

Standardized patient training significantly improves emergency residents' clinical competency and reduces critical time-to-treatment intervals for patients presenting with acute chest pain.

Main Result

Absolute Event Rate: 0% vs 0%

Abstract

Following SP training, resident physicians improved their abilities in physical examination, management and treatment of patients with acute chest pain, and less time was spend compared to the physicians without SP training. The use of SP and the generalization of this training technique is recommended, particularly in resident physicians in emergency department where more timely treatment of patients is required.

Ask AI

Helpful

Bookmark

View Full Paper