NCT06030466

Medical Students' Acceptance and Learning Efficacy With Physical and Virtual Standardized Patients

A Comparative Study of Medical Students' Acceptance and Learning Efficacy With Physical and Virtual Standardized Patients

• Status: Enrolling By Invitation
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 60 (estimated)
• Sponsor: National Taiwan University Hospital · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

This study will focus on exploring the experiential differences between virtual standardized patients and physical standardized patients, gathering feedback through questionnaires and brief interviews. Standardized patients have been widely used in medical education and physician licensing exams in Taiwan for over 15 years. With the rise of technology-enhanced medical education, it is necessary to reexamine the professional attributes and identification of standardized patients and explore the implementation of virtual standardized patient systems. The research aims to reshape the professional identity of standardized patients, identify necessary attributes and competencies, and establish a virtual standardized patient system to assess medical students' acceptance and learning outcomes.

Detailed description

This research project aims to investigate the differences in acceptance and learning efficacy between physical standardized patients and virtual standardized patients among medical students. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the physical standardized patient group or the virtual standardized patient group. They will experience scenarios with real standardized patients or screen-based virtual standardized patients, engaging in activities such as taking medical histories and explaining conditions. The study will collect questionnaire feedback on learning efficacy and acceptance. The primary research questions include: Are there differences in medical students' perceptions of teaching scenarios involving virtual standardized patients versus physical standardized patients? Are there differences in medical students' self-efficacy growth after practicing teaching scenarios with virtual standardized patients versus real standardized patients? Secondary research questions include: What professional attributes and competencies should standardized patients possess? Does technological literacy influence medical students' acceptance of virtual standardized patients? How do virtual and physical standardized patient scenarios differ in terms of perceptions by standardized patients and learners? This study will focus on exploring the experiential differences between virtual standardized patients and physical standardized patients, gathering feedback through questionnaires and brief interviews. Standardized patients have been widely used in medical education and physician licensing exams in Taiwan for over 15 years. With the rise of technology-enhanced medical education, it is necessary to reexamine the professional attributes and identification of standardized patients and explore the implementation of virtual standardized patient systems. The research aims to reshape the professional identity of standardized patients, identify necessary attributes and competencies, and establish a virtual standardized patient system to assess medical students' acceptance and learning outcomes.

Conditions

• Education, Medical

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	With virtual standardized patients	The virtual standardized patient is a software system that presents on a computer screen like a video conference, allowing medical students to interact with it for medical consultation. The virtual character modeling adopts 3D model, the expression of the character is delicate, and the voice feedback is clear. After the students' questions are asked by voice recognition and key words are extracted, appropriate responses are given.
OTHER	With physical standardized patients	The physical standardized patient is a real person who has received professional training courses in the department of medical education of National Taiwan University Hospital, and can help medical students practice consultations.

Timeline

• Start date: 2024-01-01
• Primary completion: 2026-12-01
• Completion: 2026-12-01
• First posted: 2023-09-11
• Last updated: 2025-12-17

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Taiwan