Standardized Patient vs Video Demonstration for Teaching Psychomotor Skills in Spinal Injury Management to Undergraduate Medical Students: Prospective Interventional Comparative Study

Abstract

Background: Emergency trauma care in the “golden hour” can reduce the fatality rates by 20%-50%. Imparting trauma care training in the undergraduate Indian medical graduate curriculum can prepare graduates as first responders for both prehospital and hospital setup management. However, teaching these skills for managing acute traumas in a competency-based medical education curriculum is challenging. These skills can be taught on a standardized patient (SP), allowing the learner to achieve higher clinical competency and better communication skills. However, since SP availability is limited, a video demonstration (VD) of such skills is an easy and reliable teaching-learning method. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of using an SP vs VD for teaching psychomotor skills to undergraduate students in the management of spinal injury. Methods: A prospective interventional comparative study was performed in the orthopedics department of a teaching hospital from September 2024 to February 2025, with institutional ethics committee approval. Thirty undergraduate students posted in the orthopedics department were divided into 2 groups (15 each) based on their even and odd roll numbers (systematic sampling). One group was shown a VD of the skills like application of an improvised cervical collar and log rolling maneuver for the management of a patient with spinal injury in a primary setting, while the other group was taught on an SP. The students were assessed by an objective structured clinical examination (OSCE), and maneuvers were performed on mannequins. Pretest and posttest evaluations with peer-validated questionnaires along with students’ feedbacks were obtained. The data were analyzed using unpaired 2-sided t test for OSCE scores and paired 2-sided t test for pretest and posttest scores with statistical significance set at P