Strategy-based evaluation of a formative simulation test assessing professionally relevant competences of undergraduate medical students.

Objectives: A strategy-based evaluation of new teaching or examination formats is recommended in order to check their suitability before a possible integration into a medical curriculum. The aim of the project was to evaluate an established formative competence- and simulation-based examination format for medical students in a standardized way.

Project description: In a realistic simulation of a first working day in hospital, medical students at the end of their studies were given the opportunity to test their medical competences and to develop them further on the basis of self-assessment and feedback. In the years 2020 to 2023, a total of 879 students participated. This included 707 students in their final year (PJ) and 172 students before their PJ. The simulation format was evaluated in a standardized manner based on the Stanford criteria for evaluating clinical teaching. The free text comments were analyzed by content using MAXQDA.

Results: The quality of the training, the practical learning content and aspects of the individual training phases are the most important areas of the student evaluation. The learning atmosphere, the leadership and the assessments and feedback received are described positively. There are also clear indications that the simulation format promotes understanding and retention and supports self-directed learning well. Overall, participants gave the teaching format an average school grade of 1.26±.45. Some evaluation results have already been implemented in the adaptation of the simulation.

Conclusion: The integration of the simulation format into medical curricula can be recommended on the basis of this evaluation. Further development of the format is also possible.