An evaluation of standardized patients in improving clinical breast examinations for military women.

There is a need to improve the quality of clinical breast examination (CBE) and breast cancer screening for women. The purpose of this study was to determine whether instructions from a standardized patient to military healthcare providers would increase the quality of CBE and breast cancer screening for military women. The study used a 2-group pretest and posttest experimental design with random assignment by study site. Before and after the intervention, the providers completed a 13-item survey to assess their current breast cancer screening practices and the standardized patient used an investigator-developed checklist to assess the providers' breast cancer screening performance. The survey of breast cancer screening practice scores and the interview and CBE performance scores were analyzed using analysis of covariance with the pretest scores as covariates. Results showed the experimental group made significantly more improvement than did the control group in their total scores on the observational checklist of interview and CBE skills (F = 19.18, P < .001, observed power = 0.99). In conclusion, this method of continuing education was effective with military healthcare providers.