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A Standardized Clinical Case-Based Assessment for Evaluating Medical Students' Oral Spanish Communication Skills

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Introduction: Few standardized assessments exist for evaluating medical students' oral Spanish communication with patients.Educators in Medical Spanish need practical, accessible tools.We designed and implemented a standardized clinical case-based assessment to evaluate students' oral Spanish communication skills upon course conclusion.Methods: The students enrolled in the Intermediate and Advanced Medical Spanish courses during the Fall 2021 term were included.Students participated in a standardized clinical case-based assessment with a standardized patient.The students' performance was evaluated using scoring of a binary checklist focused on 20 key components of the medical interview in Spanish, and 2 formative feedback items about their Spanish language skills.Results: Twenty-eight students participated in the educational activity, including 13 from the Intermediate and 15 from the Advanced Medical Spanish courses.Of the participants, 43% (n = 12) were female, 89% (n = 25) were medical students and 11% (n = 3) were dental students, and 78% (n = 22) were first-year students at Harvard Medical School.Overall, students in both the Intermediate and Advanced levels achieved high aggregate performance scores, at or above 80%.Mean scores differed between the two groups (p = .0001).Discussion: The standardized clinical case-based assessment effectively evaluated students' communication skills upon completing the longitudinal Medical Spanish course.It helped students ask key medical history questions in Spanish.Our curriculum offers a standardized patient case as a model for other instructors to assess oral medical Spanish communication skills.

Source: MedEdPORTAL

DOI: 10.15766/mep_2374-8265.11518