ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND
The rising number of medical students and the impact this has on students’ learning of clinical skills is a matter of concern. Cooperative learning in pairs, called dyad training, might help address this situation.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of dyad training on students’ patient encounter skills.
DESIGN
Experimental, randomized, observer-blinded trial.
PARTICIPANTS
Forty-nine pre-clerkship medical students without prior clinical experience.
INTERVENTION
All students underwent a 4-h course on how to manage patient encounters. Subsequently, the students were randomized into a dyad practice group (n = 24) or a single practice group (n = 25). Both groups practiced for 4 h on four different case scenarios, using simulated patients. Students in the dyad group practiced together and took turns as the active participant, whereas students in the single group practiced alone.
MAIN MEASURE
Performance tests of patient encounter skills were conducted 2 weeks after the training by two blinded raters. Students had no clinical training during those weeks. A questionnaire-based evaluation surveyed students’ confidence in their patient management skills.
KEY RESULTS
The dyad group scored significantly higher on the performance test, mean 40.7 % (SD 6.6), than the single group, mean 36.9 % (SD 5.8), P = 0.04, effect size 0.61. Inter-rater reliability was 0.69. The dyad group expressed significantly higher confidence in managing future clinical patient encounters than the single group, mean 7.6 (SD 0.9) vs. mean 6.5 (SD 1.1), respectively, P < 0.001, effect size 1.16.
CONCLUSION
Dyad training of pre-clerkship medical students’ patient encounter skills is effective, efficient, and prompts higher confidence in managing future patient encounters compared to training alone. This training format may help maintain high-quality medical training in the face of an increasing number of students in medical schools.
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Acknowledgements
Contributors
The authors would like to thank the students participating in this study.
Funders
This study was in part funded by the University of Copenhagen and in part funded by the Centre for Clinical Education, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet.
Conflict of Interest
The authors declare that they do not have a conflict of interest.
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Tolsgaard, M.G., Bjørck, S., Rasmussen, M.B. et al. Improving Efficiency of Clinical Skills Training: A Randomized Trial. J GEN INTERN MED 28, 1072–1077 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-013-2378-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-013-2378-4