An Evaluation of Standardized Patient Performance Over Time

• In Event: Measurement of Reasoning Skills in the Health Professions

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore methods to assess standardized patient performance over time to help sustain objective performance in a high-stakes clinical skills examination and inform quality assurance intervention. Data from a single USMLE Step 2 Clinical Skills Examination site were selected to compare SP-case leniency and discrimination on communication scores. The data consisted of 102 SP-case combinations that were active between January and November of 2010. Observed SP-case means and case-corrected total test correlations were computed and compared to corresponding estimates from a common factor model. Results show that, while either method is practical for assessing SP-case leniencies, the common factor model could be a useful source of additional information to routinely evaluate SP-case discrimination.

Authors

• Crystal B. Brown, National Board of Medical Examiners

• Nilufer Kahraman, National Board of Medical Examiners

• Jeannette M. Sanger, National Board of Medical Examiners