Evaluate the impact of the virtual patient simulator on medical students’ clinical reasoning skills through a script concordance test.

Elnaggar, Marwa; Altahir, Fatima

doi:10.21608/jhpei.2025.372933.1045

Evaluate the impact of the virtual patient simulator on medical students’ clinical reasoning skills through a script concordance test.

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Marwa Elnaggar ¹
Fatima Altahir ²

¹ (1) Medical Education Unit, Community and Family Medicine Department, College of Medicine, Jouf University Sakaka, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. (2) Medical education department, Faculty of Medicine, Suez Canal University, Egypt.

² (3) Department of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Omdurman Islamic University, Khartoum, Sudan.

10.21608/jhpei.2025.372933.1045

Abstract

Purpose: This study aimed to measure the effect of a virtual patient simulator (VPS) on medical students’ clinical reasoning skills using the Script Concordance Test (SCT).
Methods: A quasi-experimental, posttest-only control group design was employed. Fourth-year medical students at Jouf University were randomly assigned to either an intervention group (n=46), which used the InSimu Patient simulator, or a control group (n=46), which received traditional teaching methods. Both groups completed an SCT post-intervention, and their scores were compared to those of an expert panel (n=12). The SCT assessed diagnostic, investigative, and treatment-related reasoning across 20 internal medicine cases. Cronbach’s Alpha was calculated to evaluate the reliability of the SCT.
Results: The intervention group demonstrated significantly higher SCT scores compared to the control group, particularly in diagnostic and treatment-related questions (p < 0.05). The SCT showed good reliability (Cronbach’s Alpha = 0.85). Post-hoc analysis revealed significant differences between the intervention group and experts in several cases, indicating areas for further improvement. The control group also showed deviations from expert reasoning, highlighting the limitations of traditional teaching methods.

Conclusion: Virtual patient simulators significantly enhance medical students’ clinical reasoning skills, as measured by the SCT. The findings support the integration of VPS into medical curricula to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application. Future research should explore long-term outcomes and optimal implementation strategies for simulation-based learning.

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