Simulated Patients Are Predominantly Used to Teach and Evaluate Athletic Training Students’ Skills: A 10-Year Follow-Up

Abstract

In our previous research, simulations were used as the predominant method used to evaluate athletic training students’ clinical skills. However, there is growing evidence in health care education today to suggest that the traditional methods used to teach clinical skills, such as history taking, physical examination, differential diagnosis, psychological/ ethical/legal issues, and management plan making, are inadequate.Across medical and health care education, students have expressed frustration with passive approaches to learning preferring those methods that allow for active thinking, clinical decision making, and opportunities to obtain feedback regarding their performance. The role of providing effective feedback to the learner is the single most important feature that affects learning.