TRAINING STUDENTS IN EDUCATION OF THE HYPERTENSIVE PATIENT - ENHANCEDPERFORMANCE AFTER A SIMULATED PATIENT INSTRUCTOR (SPI)-BASED EXERCISE

The process whereby a physician explains to the ill patient what has g one wrong and what can be done about it can be taught and evaluated by simulated patients (SPIs). This study was designed to determine wheth er a training experience in educating a diabetic SPI improves subseque nt performance with a hypertensive SPI. Competence in educating a hype rtensive SPI by students who had no prior training experience (n = 26) was compared to that of an experimental group (n = 20) that had a pri or training session. Performance was assessed with a counseling skills scale and a case-specific content checklist (1 = poor to 5 excellent) . Students in the experimental group performed better than controls in both counseling skills (4.46 v 3.86, P < .01) and completeness of cov erage of content (3.28 v, 2.65, P < .01). Students in both groups focu sed more on clinical features and treatment than on laboratory testing and follow-up. The ability to counsel ''patients'' with hypertension can be enhanced by a prior learning experience with a diabetic SPI. Cl inical application of knowledge about hypertension can be assessed by SPIs. (C) 1998 American Journal of Hypertension, Ltd.