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Background: The accuracy of standardized patients (SPs) as recorders is an ongoing concern in medical education. Consistent feedback from an expert observer during a clinical examination might enhance the SPs' accuracy in completing checklists. Purpose: To determine the frequency of feedback necessary to maximize SP checklist accuracy. Method: Student checklists were completed after each encounter by the SPs. Varying levels of feedback were given to SPs by their trainers. To determine checklist accuracy level, multiple reviewers developed an answer key for each student encounter studied. Two hundred ninety-eight encounters were examined for agreement among 6,566 checklist items. Results: Random feedback resulted in significantly higher levels of SP accuracy than no feedback. There was no significant difference between random and constant feedback. Conclusions: This study suggests that random feedback given to SPs is sufficient to enhance SP checklist accuracy and should be part of implementation protocols in all required clinical performance examinations.
Wallace et al. (Thu,) studied this question.