Comparison of simulated patient and didactic methods of teaching HIV risk assessment to medical residents.

INTRODUCTION

Physicians need to be well trained in HIV risk assessment interview skills. Little has been written in the literature concerning training methods for this specialized interview.

METHODS

One model to teach the HIV risk assessment interview has been developed and has been used to teach third-year medical students. We compared this interactive model, which uses simulated patients to teach HIV Risk Assessment, to a didactic one. Twelve medical residents were taken through either the interactive session or the didactic session. Pre-post changes from questionnaires were calculated to determine any differences in sessions. Also, Objective Structured Clinical Examinations (OSCEs) were used to grade all residents 2 weeks after their sessions.

RESULTS

All pre-post changes were calculated and no statistically significant differences were seen (P > 0.50). OSCE interpersonal skills scores and content scores were calculated. The interactive group had statistically significantly higher scores (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The data supports the conclusion that an interactive method is more effective to use to train HIV risk assessment interview skills to medical residents when compared to the didactic method.