Computers in medical education 3: A possible tool for the assessment of clinical competence?

Background: Computers and other forms of information technology are increasingly used in medical education. We undertook a study to evaluate the place of the computer in the assessment of clinical skills of junior medical students. Methods: The history taking and physical examination skills of 136 third-year students were assessed in a series of structured and observed clinical stations and compared to their performance in similar computer-based problems. Results. Students scored equally on the computer-based tasks and in the observed stations, but the weaker students who failed one or another component of the examination were more Likely to pass at a clinical station and fail the computer task. Conclusions: This study has shown that computer-based clinical simulations can be constructed to supplement conventional assessment processes in clinical medicine and may have a role in increasing their reliability.