Virtual Patients for assessment of medical student ability to integrate clinical and laboratory data to develop differential diagnoses: Comparison of results of exams with/without time constraints

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Practice points

Examination time constraints influence a student's ability to clinically reason during examination using VPs Failure to clinically reason during examination is related to an inability to integrate medical knowledge because of time constraint. Time constraint during examination leads to indiscriminant inquiry of the VP and leads to difficulty making clinical decisions. Scoring metrics of VP-based exams need further research.

Figure 1. Comparison of the time used by students with unlimited access to the exam case versus students limited to 3 h maximum.

Figure 2. Comparison of two different second year medical student classes regarding student approaches to the identical exam case with the 2008 class having an untimed exam versus the 2010 class that had a 3 h time limit and graded exam.

Figure 3. Comparison of two different second year medical student classes regarding student accuracy of developing differential diagnoses for the exam case with different time limits and grading schema.