Unannounced standardised patients in real practice: a systematic literature review.
RETHANS, JAN-JOOST 1; GORTER, SIMONE 2; BOKKEN, LONNEKE 1; MORRISON, LINDA 3
[Miscellaneous]
Medical Education.
41(6):537-549, June 2007.
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BACKGROUND: No attempt has been made to give a systematic overview of the innovative use of unannounced or incognito standardised patients.
OBJECTIVE: To provide a systematic overview of all published studies with incognito standardised patients assessing doctors in actual practice situations using sound reliable and valid standardised patient methodology.
METHODS: Systematic literature search in Medline, Eric and Psyclit with piloted search terms, followed by retrieving additional papers from reference lists. All papers were scored with a predefined protocol-sheet using predefined inclusion and exclusion criteria.
RESULTS: Forty papers referring to 21 projects with incognito standardised patients were found and described in detail. The majority of studies were conducted in primary care and were descriptive.
DISCUSSION: There is a need for research on the additional value of the incognito standardised patient methodology and for a consensus on how to report on accuracy and consistency of standardised patients.
Copyright (C) 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.