Clinical performance of medical students in a whole-task emergency station for the objective structured clinical examination with the standardized patient who complains of palpitation in Korea

Abstract

This study assessed the clinical performance of 150 third-year medical students in a whole-task emergency objective structured clinical examination station that simulates a patient with palpitation visiting the emergency department from November 25 to 27, 2019. The clinical performance was as assessed by the frequency and percentage of students who performed history taking (HT), physical examination (PE), electrocardiography (ECG) study, patient education (Ed), and clinical reasoning (CR), which were items on the checklist. There were 18.0% of students checked the patient's pulse, 51.3% completed an ECG study, and 57.9% explained the results to the patient. There were 38.0% of students who did not even attempt an ECG study. In a whole-task emergency station, students were good at r HT and CR but unsatisfactory to the PE, ECG study, and Ed. Clinical skill educational programs should focus on PE, timely diagnostic tests, and sufficient Ed.