RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: The most frequent tests for evaluate medical education in our country, do not analyze clinical competence. The aims of this project was to introduce a method for the assessment of clinical skills in two different groups of students using the simulation methodology with standardized patients and to compare with classical methods of assessment. METHODS: Seventy three last year medical students were evaluated using 10 standardized patients encounters in April 1995 (COMBELL III project) and the other group of last year medical students was assessed in March 1996 using the same group of standardized patients (COMBELL IV project). RESULTS: The global score for the COMBELL III, was 50.6% +/- 4.8 lower to COMBELL IV, 55.6% +/- 6 (p = 0.0001), remarking the improving of the item of physical examination (39.6% +/- 7.7 versus 48.1 +/- 9.6 p < 0.0001). Personal intercommunication also improved, 63.1% +/- 11.4 versus 70.4% +/- 12.2 (p = 0.0008). We did not find differences between academic grades and did not find correlations between clinical competence assessment and academic grades in COMBELL III but we found correlations in COMBELL IV. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that when this new assessment method was introduces in our medical school the clinical competence levels improved.
