A Cross-Sectional Study Analysing the Reliability of the Simulated Patient as an Assessor of Medical Students’ Professionalism during Objective Structured Clinical Examination

During the examination of professionals, the simulated patient (SP) can be the right person to assess the professionalism of examinees. This research analysed the efficiency of SP assessments of students’ professionalism. Students’ professionalism was assessed during an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) by two independent assessors (the examiner and the SP). Professionalism was assessed using the previously validated Medical Students’ Professionalism Assessment Scale. The scores provided by two assessors were subject to descriptive analysis, with mean, standard deviation, median, interquartile range, and minimum and maximum values derived. Since the rating was based on the ordinal scale, the agreement between the two assessors was analysed using quadratic weighted kappa statistics. Both SPs and examiners provided similar mean scores in their assessments. The highest difference was observed in relation to one statement on “student causing pain to the SP”, in which the SP assessment mean score was 0.10, while the examiner assessment mean score was 0.48. In terms of agreement, the item “the student gave clear instructions before examining me” achieved moderate concordance (agreement). Although most of the items achieved fair concordance between the assessors, we recommend periodic training of SPs to improve their abilities as assessors for rating the professionalism shown by medical students.